PERSONAL  MEMORIES 


SOCIAL,  POLITICAL,  AND  LITERARY 


SKETCHES  OF  MANY  NOTED  PEOPLE 


1803-1843 


BY 

E.  D.  MANSFIELD,  LLD 

Author  of  "American   Education,"    "  Legal   Rights  of  Women, 
"  Life  of  Daniel   Drake,"  etc.,   etc. 


CINCINNATI 

ROBERT  CLARKE   &   CO 
1879 


3 


Copyrighted  : 
E.  D.  MANSFIELD. 

1879. 


PREFACE. 


I  HAD  no  such  vanity  as  would  have  induced  the 
puhlication  of  this  book.  It  was  urged  upon  me  by 
others.  Several  years  ago  a  number  of  gentlemen  in 
Cincinnati  sent  me  a  written  request  to  publish  my 
reminiscences.  After  that  my  children  made  the 
same  request.  E"ot  liking  personal  publicity,  I  paid, 
at  first,  little  attention  to  the  subject.  Subsequently 
I  began  writing  my  memories  in  a  series  of  letters  to 
my  children.  In  this  form  they  had  more  of  person 
ality  and  of  personal  address  than  perhaps  a  printed 
book  should  have,  but  the  reader  will  no  doubt  make 
allowance  for  that. 

One  reason  for  my  publishing  these  personal  remi 
niscences  is,  that  I  remembered  I  was  always  inter 
ested,  and  I  think  others  have  been  also,  in  this  kind 
of  narrative.  Human  nature  is  always  interested  in 
itself,  and  each  individual  looks  with  curiosity  on  the 
progress  of  others  in  [the  journey  of  life,  j  This  com 
mon  interest  in  each  other  is  my  best  reason  for  this 
publication,  a  small  contribution  to  the  history  of  hu 
man  nature.  It  will  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  some, 
inform  others  upon  the  social  events  of  my  time,  and 
record  some  portions  of  unwritten  history  now  almost 

M129676 


iv  Preface. 

forgotten,  and  which  would  otherwise  remain  un 
known. 

One  other  thing  ought  to  be  mentioned.  Many 
persons  of  whom  I  might  be  expected  to  speak  are 
not  named,  and  of  the  large  commercial  class,  among 
whom  I  had  many  friends,  little  is  said.  For  this,  I 
think,  there  are  sufficient  reasons.  First,  the  period 
to  which  I  limited  myself— 1803  to  1841— excluded 
most  of  them;  and  secondly,  while  I  was  so  limited, 
I  excluded,  as  far  as  possible,  the  living.  If  I  should 
be  encouraged  by  the  public,  or  my  strength  wTill  per 
mit,  I  may  add  a  second  volume,  which  would  bring 
the  memories  of  my  time  through  the  "War  of  the  Re 
bellion.  Such  a  thing  would  be  pleasing  to  myself; 
but,  like  all  human  events,  is  in  the  hands  of  Divine 
Providence,  which  ordereth  all  things  right,  and  to 
which  we  should  submit  with  patient  and  humble 
resignation.  E.  D.  M. 

YAMOYDEN,  March,  1879. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

My  Father — Appointed  Surveyor-General  by  Jefferson — Marietta 
in  1803 — Society  —  Madame  Blennerhasset — Her  Lament — • 
Pioneer  Survey  of  Indiana — Wild  Animals  of  Ohio — Preva 
lence  of  Intemperance  and  Infidelity 1-17 

CHAPTER  II. 

Voyage  down  the  Ohio — The  "Ark" — "Keelboat" — Arrival  at 
Cincinnati  —  General  Findley  —  Fort  Washington  —  Indian 
Lookout — Ludlow  Station — Little  Turtle;  his  Appearance, 
Character,  and  Death — Israel  Ludlow — Sarah  Bella  Ludlow — 
John  Mansfield 18-30 

CHAPTER  III. 

First  Observatory  at  Ludlow  Station — Public  Surveys — Society 
in  the  Country — War  of  1812 — Volunteer  Companies — Captain 
Mansfield — General  Totten — Traveling  in  1809 — First -View  of 
a  Steamboat — Log  School  House — The  Hunters — Earthquakes 
of  1812 31-47 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Journey  to  the  East — The  Wagoners — The  Women  of  Stoning- 

ton — Capture  of  the  Macedonian — New  Haven — Bishop — Dr. 

Dwight  —  Noah  Webster  —  Captain   Powell  —  Libraries  — My 
•  Studies — West  Point — No  Text-Books — Cheshire  Teaching — 

Governor  Foote 48-63 

CHAPTER  V. 

West  Point— Its  Organization — Its  Professors— Want  of  Text- 
Books—Cadet  Life— Oral  Teachings— Scenery^  and  Memor 
ials 64-77 

(v) 


vi  Contents. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Go  to  a  Connecticut  Academy — Farmington — New  England  So 
ciety — Young  People's  Party — Timothy  Pitkin — Missouri 
Compromise — Effect  in  Connecticut — Return  to  West  Point — 
Classic  Studies — Mr.  Pic  ton 78-91 

.  CHAPTER  VII. 

Princeton — College  Life — Professors — Lindsley — Greene — Miller 
— Alexander — Hodge — My  Classmates — Senator  Pearce — Pro 
fessor  Dod;  Richardson — The  Philosophy  of  Ideas;  Wither- 
spoon— Chesterfield 92-103 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Again  at  West  Point — Reading,  History,  and  International  Law 
— A  Party — Distinguished  Visitors — De  Witt  Clinton — Dr. 
Mitchell — Eliza  Leslie — Mrs.  Emma  Willard — Percival  the 
Poet — Female  Education — Sally  Pierce — Nathaniel  Carter — 
Colonel  Stone— Percival  at  Midnight 104-121 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Litchfield — Law  School — Noted  Men — Judge  Reeve — Judge 
Gould — Anecdotes — Uriah  Tracey — John  Pierpo|nt — The  Wol- 
cotts — The  Demings — Col.  Tallmadge — Talk  with  Governor 
Wolcott — Connecticut  Politics — TheHSeymours — Dr.  Sheldon 
—Mode  of  Life— Dr.  Beecher 122-140 

CHAPTER  X. 

Return  to  Cincinnati — Voyage  Down  the  Ohio — Judge  Baldwin 
— Judge  Torrence — My  Case — Nicholas  Longworth — Martin 
Baum  —  Peyton  Symmes  —  Dr.  Wilson^Fatner  Burke  — 
Churches  in  Cincinnati — Bishop  Fenwick — Aydelotte — John 
son — Ja_cob  _Burjiett  his  Useful  Life — David  K.  Este — Nathan 
iel  Wright— Gazley— William  Lytle— Robert  Lytle 141-166 

CHAPTER  XL 

Dr.  Daniel  Drake,  his  Genius  and  Character — Dr.  Goforth — Cin_ 
cinnati  in  1805 — Medical  Practice;  Drake  founds  the  Ohio 
Medical  College;  is  turned  out  by  his  Colleagues;  "Horace 
in  Cincinnati;  "  Drake's  Monody  on  the  Death  of  his  Wife — 


Contents.  vii 


Moses  Dawson — Charles  Hammond,  Editor  and  Lawyer — 
States  Rights  in  Ohio — Literary  Institutions — Hiram  Powers — 
Poets— W.  D.  Gallagher 167-184 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Society  in  Cincinnati — Parties — Theaters — Actors —  Prevalent 
Diseases — Taking  the  Census — Mechanics — Strange  Imposition 
—General  Ross 185-201 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Presidency — Candidates  in  1824 — John  Quincy  Adams — 
Clay's  Vote  for  Adams — Speech  at  Mack's  Tavern — Henry 
Clay  and  his  Character 202-218 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Thomas  Corwin ;  his  Genius,  Career,  Eloquence,  and  Character — 
Jackson  ;  his  Canvass  for  the  Presidency — "  Truth's  Advocate" 
—Burr  and  Jackson 219-235 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Nullification — Calhoun's  Theory — Hamilton's  Speech  —  South 
Carolina  Volunteers — Curious  Incidents  in  South  Carolina — 
Webster's  Speech — Jackson's  Position — The  Proclamation — 
The  Tariff'— The  Compromise — Failure  of  Oratory — Success  of 
the  Republic .236-253 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Cholera — Its  Advent,  Progress,  and  Mortality — Dr.  Drake's 
Literary  Parties — General  King — Mrs.  King  (Mrs.  Peters) — 
Catharine  Beecher — Harriet  Beecher  (Mrs.  Stowe) — Professor 
Stowe — Judge_Hall — Mrs.  Caroline  Hentze — College  of  Teach 
ers — Albert  Pickett — Joshua  Wilson — Alexander  Kinmont — 
James  Perkins — Dr.  Beecher — Alexander  Campbell — Thomas 
L.  Grimke 254-276 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Ormsby  Mitchell — The  Political  Grammar — Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
— John  Quincy  Adams — Abolition — Right  of  Petition — Bank 
of  the  United  States — Removal  of  the  Deposits — Storer  and 
Lytle — Cincinnati  College — Dr.  McGuffey — Charles  Telford — 
Cincinnati  Chronicle— Benjamin  Drake— Myself. 277-295 


viii  Contents. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Southern  Railroad — My  Article  and  Speech — Public  Meeting  in 
Cincinnati — Drake — J.  S.  Williams — Judge  Hall — General 
Harrison — Knoxville  Convention — Ohio  Delegates — Scenery 
on  the  Tennessee  River — Cincinnati  jiEob— Court-house  Meet 
ing — Commercial  Crisis  of  1837 — First  Observatory  at  Ludlow 
Station— Mitchell's  Observatory 296-310 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Political  Campaign  of  1840 — Van  Buren — Washington  Scandal — 
Break  between  Calhoun  and  Jackson — Van  Buren's  Success — 
Nomination  of  Harrison — Log  Cabins  and  Hard  Cider — Glee 
Songs  —  Defeat  of  Van  Buren  —  Salt  River  —  Lamenta 
tions 311-328 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Newspaper  Press — Its  Origin,  Character,  and  Purposes — The 
English  Press — Public  Writers — The  "  Morning  Chronicle  " 
— Fox  and  Sheridan — "  Public  Advertiser" — Junius — The 
American  Press — Freneau — Duane — Ritchie — Robert  Walsh — 
"Evening  Post" — Coleman — "  National  Intelligencer" — Gales 
— "New  York  Times" — Henry  J.  Raymond — Horace  Greeley 
and  Socialism — What  should  be  the  Tone  and  Character  of  a 
Newspaper 329-348 


PERSONAL   MEMORIES 

BY  E.  D.  MANSFIELD. 


My  Father — Appointed  Survey  or -General  by  Jefferson — 
Marietta  in  180-3 — Society — Madam,  Blennerhasset — 
Her  Lament— Pioneer  Survey  of  Indiana —  Wild  Ani 
mals  of  Ohio — Prevalence  of  Intemperance  and  Infi 
delity. 

THE  reader  of  "Personal  Memories"  must  desire  to 
know  something  of  the  writer,  and  of  his  qualifica 
tions  to  interest  the  public. 

My  father's  family  came  from  Exeter,  in  England,  / 
landed  at  Boston  in  1634,  and  were  among  the  first  I 
settlers  in  New  Haven,  in  1639.     They  were  upright,  I 
intelligent  people,  who,  with  their  descendants,  have 
continued  from  that  time  to  this — a  period  of  two 
hundred  and  forty  years — without  reproach;  always 
in  respectable  situations,\and  some  of  them  in  public 
life.     My  father,  Jared  Mansfield,  was,  all  his  life,  a 
teacher,  a  professor,  and  a  man  of  science.     He  began 
his  life  as  a  teacher  in  £Tew  Haven,  where  he  taught 
a  mathematical  school,  and  afterward  taught  at  the 
u  Friends'  Academy,"  in  Philadephia,  where  he  was 
during  the  great  yellow-fever  season,  and  went  from 
there  to  West  Point,  where  he  taught  in  the  Military 
Academy,  in  1802-3  and  in  1814-28.     In  the  mean- 


:  nt  f  ^Personal  Memories. 


time,  however,  be  was  nine  years  in  the  State  of  Ohio, 
holding  the  position  of  Surve3ror-General  of  the 
United  States.  The  manner  of  his  appointment,  and 
the  work  he  performed,  will  illustrate  his  character 
and  introduce  a  small,  but  interesting  chapter  of 
events. 

While  teaching,  at  New  Haven,  he  had  several  pu 
pils  who  afterward  became  famous,  or  rather  distin 
guished  men.  Two  of  these  were  Abraham  and 
Henry  Baldwin.  The  first  was  afterward  United 
States  Senator  from  Georgia,  and  the  second,  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  These 
boys,  as  may  be  inferred,  had  decided  talents,  but  were 
full  of  mischief.  One  day  they  played  a  bad  trick  upon 
my  father,  their  teacher,  and  he  whipped  them  very 
severely.  Their  father  complained,  and  the  case  came 
before  a  magistrate  ;  but  my  father  was  acquitted.  It 
may  be  thought  that  the  boys  would  have  become  my 
father's  enemies.  Not  so;  they  were  of  a  generous 
temperament,  and  knew  their  conduct  had  been 
wrong;  this  they  acknowledged,  and  they  became  my 
father's  fast  friends.  Judge  Henry  Baldwin  told  me 
that  nothing  had  ever  done  him  so  much  good  as  that 
whipping;  and  the  brothers  were  warm  in  their 
friendship  to  my  father,  both  in  word  and  act. 

While  teaching,  in  New  Haven,  he  published  a 
book  entitled  "Essays  on  Mathematics."  It  was  an 
original  work,  and  but  a  few  copies  were  sold ;  for 
there  were  but  few  men  in  the  country  who  could 
understand  it.  The  book,  however,  established  his 
reputation  as  a  man  of  science,  and  greatly  influenced 
his  after  life.  Abraham  Baldwin  was,  at  that  time, 
Senator  from  Georgia,  and  brought  this  book  to  the 


Personal  Memories. 


notice  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  fond  of  science  and 
scientific  men.  The  consequence  was,  that  my  father 
became  a  captain  of  engineers,  appointed  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  with  a  view  to  his  becoming  one  of  the  pro 
fessors  at  the  West  Point  Military  Academy,  then  es 
tablished  by  law.  Accordingly,  he  and  Captain  Bar- 
ron,  also  of  the  engineers,  were  ordered  to  West  Point, 
and  became  the  first  teachers  of  the  West  Point  cadets 
in  1802.  He  was  there  about  a  year,  when  he  received 
a  new  appointment,  to  a  new  and  more  arduous  field  in 
the  West. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  been  but  a  short  time  in  office, 
when  he  became  annoyed  by  the  fact  that  the  public 
surveys  were  going  wrong,  for  the  want  of  establish 
ing  meridian  lines;  for  the  accuracy  of  the  surveys 
depended  upon  establishing  meridian  lines  with  base 
lines  at  right  angles  to  them.  The  surveyors  of  that 
time,  including  General  Rufus  Putnam,  then  Sur 
veyor-General,  could  not  do  this.  Mr.  Jefferson 
wanted  a  man  who  could  perform  this  work  well, 
necessarily,  therefore,  a  scientific  man.  This  came  to 
the  ears  of  Mr.  Baldwin,  who  strongly  recommended 
my  father,  as  being,  in  fact,  the  most  scientific  man  of 
the  country.  My  father  did  not  quite  like  the  idea  of 
such  a  work,  for  he  was  a  scholar  and  mathematician, 
fond  of  a  quiet  and  retired  life. 

He  foresaw,  clearly,  that  going  to  Ohio,  then  a  fron 
tier  State,  largely  inhabited  by  Indians  and  wolves,  to 
engage  in  public  business  involving  large  responsibili 
ties,  would  necessarily  give  him  more  or  less  of  trou 
ble  and  vexation.  He  was,  however,  induced  to  go, 
under  conditions  which,  I  think,  were  never  granted 
to  any  other  officer.  It  was  agreed  that  while  he  was 


Personal  Memories. 


engaged  in  the  public  service  in  the  West,  his  com 
mission  in  the  engineer  corps  should  go  on,  and  he  be 
entitled  to  promotion,  although  he  received  but  one 
salary,  that  of  Surveyor-General.  In  accordance  with 
this  agreement,  he  received  two  promotions  while 
in  Ohio,  and  his  professorship  at  West  Point  was  (on 
the  recommendation  of  President  Madison),  subse 
quently,  by  law,  conformed  to  the  agreement,  with 
the  rank  and  emoluments  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

I  mention  this,  to  show  the  confidence  that  Presi 
dents  Jefferson  and  Madison  had  in  him,  and  the  re 
spect  which,  in  those  days,  was  paid  to  men  of  science. 
Alas !  that  it  should  not  be  so  now.  I  do  not  think 
my  country  has,  on  the  the  whole,  gone  backward; 
but  it  is  in  vain  to  say,  that  worth,  virtue,  or  tal 
ent  can  any  longer  expect  either  the  reward  or  re 
cognition  which  they  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
early  administration  of  the  government.  In  these 
days  office  is  the  reward  of  partisan  services.  It  is 
true,  that  occasionally  a  literary  man  is  appointed  to 
office  ;  but  I  do  not  remember  a  single  man  of  science, 
who,  in  the  last  twenty  years,  has  received  office  at 
the  hands  of  the  government,  as  a  reward  or  recogni 
tion  of  his  distinction  as  a  man  of  science.  Irving, 
Bancroft,  Motley,  Bayard  Taylor,  and  Lowell  have 
been  appointed  to  foreign  missions,  probably  from 
their  distinction  as  literary  men ;  but  where  is  there 
a  man  of  science  who  has  received  from  the  govern 
ment  any  recognition  of  his  services?  Professors 
Henry,  Agassiz,  and  others  have  been  distinguished 
in  public  service,  but  never  at  the  hands  of  the  gov 
ernment. 

My  father,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  the  only  man  ap- 


Personal  Memories. 


pointed  to  an  important  public  office  solely  on  the 
ground  of  his  scientific  attain  Clients.  This  was  due  to 
Mr.  Jefferson,  who,  if  not  himself  a  man  of  science, 
was  really  a  friend  of  science. 

My  father's  removal  to  the  West,  which  took  place 
in  1803,  required  in  those  days  a  long  journey,  much 
time,  and  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  The  reader  will 
understand  that  there  were  then  no  public  convey 
ances  west  of  the  Allegheny.  Whoever  went  to  Ohio 
from  the  East  had  to  provide  his  own  carriage,  and 
take  care  of  his  own  baggage.  At  that  time  there 
was  really  but  one  highway  from  the  East  to  the 
West,  and  that  was  the  great  Pennsylvania  route 
from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg.  It  professed  to  be  a 
turnpike,  but  was  really  only  a  passable  road,  and  on 
the  mountains  narrow  and  dangerous.  It  was  chiefly 
traversed  by  the  wagoners  who  carried  goods  from 
Philadelphia  to  the  West.  A  private  carnage  and 
driver,  such  as  my  father  had  to  have,  was  the  abhor 
rence  of  the  wagoners,  who  considered  it  simply  an 
evidence  of  aristocracy.  They  threatened,  and  often 
actually  endangered,  private  carriages.  My  mother 
used  to  relate  her  fears  and  anxieties  on  that  journey, 
and,  as  contrasted  with  the  mode  of  traveling  at  the 
present  day,  that  journey  was  really  dangerous.  Ar 
rived  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  my  father  established  his  of 
fice  there  for  the  next  two  years.  At  first,  some 
trouble  arose  from  differences  of  political  opinions  at 
Marietta.  Political  excitement  at  the  election  of  Jef 
ferson  had  been  very  high,  perhaps  never  more  so. 
General  Rufus  Putnam,  my  father's  predecessor  as 
Surveyor-General,  had  been  a  Revolutionary  officer 
and  a  Federalist,  while  my  father  was  a  Republican 


6  Personal  Memories. 

(now  called  Democrat),  and  supposed  to  be  a  partisan 
of  Jefferson.  This  political  breeze,  however,  soon 
passed  over.  The  people  of  Marietta  were,  in  gen 
eral,  intelligent,  upright  people,  and  my  father  not 
one  to  quarrel  without  cause.  The  Putnams  were 
polite,  and  my  parents  passed  two  years  at  Marietta 
pleasantly  and  happily.  I,  who  was  but  a  little  child 
of  three  or  four  years  of  age,  was  utterly  oblivious  to 
what  might  go  on  in  Marietta  society. 

Two  things,  however,  impressed  themselves  upon 
me.  They  must  have  occurred  in  the  summer  and 
spring  of  1805.  The  first  was  what  was  called  "  The 
Great  Flood."  There  is  a  good  deal  said,  every  little 
while,  about  extraordinary  cold,  heat,  or  high  water, 
but  all  these  things  have  occurred  before,  and  nothing 
of  natural  phenomena  has  happened  in  the  last  half 
century  which  has  not  happened  before.  The  impres 
sion  on  my  mind  is  that  of  the  river  Ohio  rising  so 
high  as  to  flood  the  lower  part  of  Marietta.  We 
lived  some  distance  from  the  Ohio,  but  on  the  lower 
plain,,  so  that  the  water  came  up  into  our  yard,  and  it 
seems  to  me  I  can  still  recall  the  wood  and  chips 
floating  in  the  yard.  However,  all  memories  of  such 
early  years  are  indistinct,  and  can  only  be  relied  on 
for  general  impressions.  My  mother  insisted  that  she 
could  remember  Colonel  Sabin  riding  through  the 
streets  of  ^Tew  Haven  with  a  drawn  sword,  crying, 
"Turn  out!  Turn  out!"  on  the  invasion  of  the  Brit 
ish  Tories  under  Tryon  and  Arnold.  This  wras  in 
1779,  and  she  was  only  three  years  old.  It  is  said  that 
old  people  decay  in  the  memory  of  recent  events,  but 
my  mother  had  no  loss  of  memory.  It  was  the  same 
to  her  whether  the  event  was  a  year  or  seventy  years 


Personal  Memories. 


old.  As  I  was  four  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  Ma 
rietta  flood,  it  is  -probable  that  my  impressions  of  it 
are  correct. 

The  other  event  which  impressed  itself  upon  my 
mind  was  the  vision  of  a  very  interesting  and  very  re 
markable  woman.  One  day,  and  it  seems  to  have 
been  a  bright  summer  morning  a  lady  and  a  little  boy 
called  upon  my  mother.  I  played  with  the  boy,  and 
it  is  probable  this  circumstance  which  impressed  it  on 
my  mind,  for  the  boy  was  handsomely  dressed,  and 
had  a  fine  little  sword  hanging  by  his  side.  The  lady, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  was  handsome  and  bright,  laughing 
and  talking  with  my  mother.  That  lady  soon  be 
came  historical — her  life  a  romance,  and  her  name  a 
theme  of  poetry,  and  a  subject  of  eloquence.  It  was 
Madame  Blennerhasset.  Although  the  main  facts  in 
her  history  are  known,  perhaps  a  brief  account  of  her 
may  interest  the  reader.  Blennerhasset  was  an  Irish 
man,  of  good  family  and  education,  but  of  fanciful 
and  visionary  ideas.  His  wife  was  an  accomplished 
lady  of  high  family.  From  some  idea  of  adventure 
or  romance,  Blennerhasset  moved  to  Ohio,  and  bought 
and  improved  what  is  known  as  Blennerhasset's 
Island.  It  is  about  twelve  miles  below  Marietta, 
and  is  held  by  a  patent  received  by  Patrick  Henry. 
There  he  built  an  elegant  house,  had  a  fine  library,  a 
philosophical  apparatus,  and  a  beautiful  garden.  Of 
these  nothing  now  remains.  Blennerhasset  was  one 
of  the  victims  of  Aaron  Burr — became  involved  in  his 
wild  schemes,  was  driven  from  the  island,  which  was 
left  in  ruins,  the  house  burned,  and  the  garden  de 
stroyed.  The  Virginia  militia,  who  came  in  from 
Wood  county  with  lofty  patriotism  on  their  tongues, 


8  Personal  Memories. 

were  alike  indifferent  to  beauty  or  to  culture.  The 
public  history  of  Blennerhasset  and  Burr  is  well 
known,  but  that  of  Margaret  Blennerhasset  is  more 
interesting  than  either.  It  is  seventy  years  since  Wirt, 
in  the  trial  of  Burr,  uttered  his  beautiful  and  poetic 
description  of  Madam  Blennerhasset  and  the  island 
she  admired.  Poetic  as  it  was,  it  did  less  than  justice 
to  the  woman.  An  intelligent  lady  who  was  intimate 
with  her,  and  afterward  visited  the  courts  of  England 
and  France,  said  she  had  never  beheld  one  who  was 
Mrs.  Blennerhasset's  equal  in  beauty,  dignity  of  man 
ners,  elegance  of  dress,  and  all  that  was  lovely  in  the 
person  of  woman.  With  all  this  she  was  as  domestic 
in  her  habits,  as  well  acquainted  with  housewifery, 
the  art  of  sewing,  as  charitable  to  the  poor,  as  ambi 
tious  for  her  husband,  as  though  she  were  not  the 
"  Queen  of  the  Fairy  Isle."  She  was  as  strong  and 
active  in  body  as  she  was  graceful.  She  could  leap  a 
live-rail  fence,  walk  ten  miles  at  a  stretch,  and  ride  a 
horse  with  the  boldest  dragoon.  She  frequently  rode 
from  the  island  to  Marietta,  exhibiting  her  skill  in 
horsemanship  and  elegance  of  dress.  Robed  in  scar 
let  broadcloth,  with  a  white  beaver  hat,  on.  a  spirited 
horse,  she  might  be  seen  dashing  through  the  dark 
woods,  reminding  one  of  the  flight  and  gay  plumage 
of  some  tropical  bird;  but,  like  the  happiness  of 
Eden,  all  this  was  to  have  a  sudden  and  disastrous 
end.  The  "  Queen  of  the  Fairy  Isle  "  was  destined  to 
a  fate  more  severe  than  if  her  lot  had  been  cast  in  the 
rudest  log  cabin.  Associated  with  the  schemes  of 
Burr,  Blennerhasset  was  compelled  to  fly.  The  Vir 
ginia  militia  ravaged  his  beautiful  home,  and  the 
island  returned  to  the  barbarism  from  which  it  had 


Personal  Memories.  9 

emerged.  Mrs.  .Blennerhasset  accompanied  her  hus 
band  to  Natchez,  where  they  lived  for  a  time,  and 
thence  to  Montreal.  After  her  husband's  death  she  re 
turned  to  England,  bnt  came  back  finally  to  New 
York,  having  declined  gradually  from  splendid  for 
tune  to  pinching  want.  While  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
she  wrote  the  "Lament  to  the  Fairy  Isle."  The  follow 
ing  are  two  stanzas : 

"  The  stranger  that  descends  Ohio's  stream, 

Charmed  with  the  beauteous  prospects  that  arise, 
Marks  the  soft  isles  that  'neath  the  glistening  beam 
Dance  in  the  wave  and  mingle  in  the  skies — 
Sees  also  one,  that  now  in  ruin  lies, 
Which  erst,  like  Fairy  Queen,  towered  o'er  the  rest, 
In  every  native  charm  by  culture  dressed. 

"  There  rose  the  seat,  where  once,  in  pride  of  life, 
My  eye  could  mark  the  Queen  of  rivers  flow; 
In  summer's  calmness,  or  in  winter's  strife, 

Swollen  with  rains,  or  battling  with  the  snow — 
Never  again  my  heart  such  joy  will  know. 
Havoc  and  ruin,  and  rampant  war  have  passed 
Over  that  isle  with  their  destroying  blast." 

The  end  of  this  accomplished  woman  none  can 
think  of  without  a  sigh.  Reduced  to  absolute  want 
in  New  York,  she  died  and  was  buried  by  a  benevo 
lent  society  of  Irish  women — 

"By  foreign  hands,  thy  humble  grave  adorned, 
By  strangers  honored,  and  by  strangers  mourned." 

During  my  father's  residence  at  Marietta,  there  ap 
peared  in  the  Marietta  paper  a  series  of  articles  in 
favor  of  the  schemes  of  Burr,  and  indirectly  a  sepa 
ration  of  the  Western  and  Eastern  states.  Those  ar 
ticles  were  censured  by  another  series,  signed  "Regu- 
lus,"  which  denounced  the  idea  of  separating  the  states, 


10  Personal  Memories. 

and  supported  the  Union  and  the  administration  of  Jef 
ferson.  At  the  time,  and  to  this  day,  the  writer  was, 
and  is,  unknown.  They  are  mentioned  in  Hildreth's 
"  Pioneer  History/''  us  by  an  unknown  author.  They 
were,  in  fact,  written  by  my  father,  and  made  a  strong 
impression  at  the  time.  For  an  account  of  the  so 
ciety  and  people  at  Marietta,  I  am  indebted  to  my 
mother,  of  whom,  I  will  here  make  such  mention  as 
is  proper.  Her  maiden  name  was  Phipps,  and  my 
grandfather  Phipps  came  from  Falmouth,  Maine,  to 
New  Haven,  Connecticut.  He  had  the  distinction — 
for  in  a  historical  sense,  such  it  was — ot  being  an  offi 
cer  in  the  first  naval  squadron  ever  fitted  out  by  the 
United  States.  He  sailed  under  Commodore  Hopkins, 
who  captured  the  island  of  New  Providence  in  the 
Bahamas  from  the  British ;  he  remained  in  the  navy 
during  his  life  and  was  a  remarkable  man  ;  he  was  a 
strict  disciplinarian  and  a  pious  Christian.  Once, 
when  commanding  the  frigate  Essex,  he  heard  the 
sailors  swearing;  he  called  the  men  up  and  said : 
"  Men  !  there  must  be  no  swearing  on  board  this  ship  ; 
I  do  all  the  swearing."  For  some  years  after  the  Rev 
olution,  the  Government  having  no  employment  for 
him,  he  commanded  a  merchant  ship  trading  with 
Holland  and  Ireland.  In  his  voyages  from  Ireland, 
he  brought  from  Londonderry  and  Belfast  a  large 
number  of  Irish  emigrants,  among  the  first  who  came 
to  this  country. 

Of  my  mother's  early  education,  I  never  could  learn 
that  she  had  had  more  than  that  of  the  common 
schools,  at  that  time  common  enough.  I  have 
heard  her  say,  that,  when  a  child,  her  teacher  was 
Mrs.  Henry  Mansfield,  the  mother  of  General  Joseph 


Personal  Memories.  11 

Mansfield,  killed  at  Antietam.  My  mother,  probably 
got  no  other  education,  in  the  popular  sense,  tluwi 
reading,  writing,  and,  perhaps,  geography.  But — 
was  that  all?  If  it  were,  it  was  pretty  good  proof 
that  more  than  that  was  not  necessary  to  make  a  very 
intelligent  person  ;  for  there  were  few  people  so  well 
qualified,  either  for  the  duties  of  life,  society,  church, 
or  state.  The  truth  was,  however,  that  my  mother 
was  brought  up  in  a  very  religious  family,  and  there 
fore  had  all  the  knowledge  that  the  Bible  and  the 
church  can  2five,  and  that  is  not  a  little.  In  the  next 

O  ' 

place,  she  had  a  strong  literary  taste,  read  all  the  En 
glish  classics,  with  the  popular  literature  of  the  times, 
and  remembered  what  she  read.  Her  husband  being 
a  man  of  letters  and  of  science,  she  was  always  in 
the  best  society  and  acquainted  with  many  distin 
guished  literary  and  scientific  people.  This  social  edu 
cation  is,  perhaps,  the  best,  and,  with  her  naturally 
strong  mind,  made  my  mother  a  superior  woman. 
She  needed  none  of  the  forms  of  schools,  nor  any  fash 
ionable  accomplishments,  to  place  her  in  the  first  rank 
of  educated  society.  What  others  had  of  music,  danc 
ing,  languages,  or  dress,  she  more  than  supplied  with 
the  flow  of  her  full,  cheerful,  and  brilliant  mind.  Gen 
tlemen  and  ladies,  young  and  old  people,  officers  and 
scholars  were  glad  to  visit  Mrs.  Mansfield,  lingering  in 
her  society  until  late  hours  and  parting  with  regret, 
from  what  was  indeed  a  "  feast  of  reason  and  flo\v  of 
soul."  She  had  strong  views  of  politics,  and  was  a 
great  patriot ;  for  this,  she  had,  in  her  experience, 
good  reason.  When  Arnold  and  Try  on  captured  NQW 
Haven,  in  the  Revolution,  my  mother's  family  suf 
fered  ;  some  of  them  fled  to  the  country,  and  others 


12  Personal  Memories. 

remained.  It  was  then  that  her  great  uncle,  Ben 
jamin  English,  when  over  eighty  years  of  age,  was 
stabbed  in  his  chair  and  killed  hy  a  Hessian  soldier. 
That  incident  never  faded  from  my  mother's  memory, 
and  a  warmer  patriot  or  a  greater  enemy  to  the  En 
glish  government,  than  my  mother,  never  lived.  Here 
let  me  say,  that  I  am  indebted  for  my  political  opin 
ions  to  two  persons,  except  so  far  as  they  have  been 
modified  hy  my  studies  and  experience.  These  per 
sons  were  my  mother  and  Oliver  Wolcott,  of  Connec 
ticut.  Of  the  latter  I  shall  speak  again.  The  reader 
may  ask  if  I  got  no  opinions  from  my  father.  Some, 
certainly;  hut  not  of  that  positive  character  and  in- 
/  fluence  which  marked  my  mother's  principles  and 

U views,  lie  was  a  philosopher,  a  student  of  science. 
and  a  teacher;  his  mind  was  cool  and  philosophical, 
while  my  mother's  was  positive,  direct,  and  earnest. 
She  believed  in  the  triumph  of  Christianity;  in  the 
success  of  the  American  Republic,  the  overthrow  of 
the  British  Government,  and  the  downfall  of  all  op 
pression.  She  was  lion-hearted,  and  would  have  died 
a  martyr  to  her  opinions  had  it  been  necessary.  Such 
was  my  mother,  and  from  her  I  derived  most  of  my 
information  about  the  early  society  of  Marietta  and 
Cincinnati.  Among  her  friends  in  Marietta  were  the 
Putnams,  the  Meigs'  family,  the  Greenes,  the  Backus' 
family,  and  the  Stones.  Some  of  these  families  seem 
to  have  disappeared ;  but  some  have  left  descendants. 
Here  let  me  remark  on  the  society  of  the  past  genera 
tion,  as, compared  with  the  present.  There  is  always 
in  the  present  time,  a  disposition  to  exaggerate  either 
its  merits  or  its  faults.  Those  who  take  a  hopeful 
view  of  things,  and  wonder  at  our  inventions  and  dis- 


Personal  Memories.  13 

coveries,  think  that  society  is  advancing  and  we  are 
going  straight  into  the  millenium.  On  the  other  hand, 
those  who  look  upon  the  state  of  society  to-day,  es 
pecially  if  they  are  not  entirely  satisfied  with  their  own 
condition,  are  apt  to  charge  society  with  degeneracy. 
They  see  crimes  and  corruptions,  and  assert  that  soci 
ety  is  growing  worse.  Let  me  here  assure  the  reader 
that  this  is  not  true,  and  that  while.we  have  all  reason 
to  lament  the  weakness  of  human  nature,  it  is  not 
true  that  society  is  declining.  IsTo  fact  is  more  easily 
demonstrated  than  that  the  society  of  educated  peo 
ple — and  they  govern  all  others — is  in  a  much  better 
condition  now  than  it  was  in  the  days  succeeding  the 
Revolution.  The  principles  and  ideas  that  caused  the 
French  Revolution,  at  one  time,  brought  Atheism  and 
Free  Thinkers  into  power  in  France,  and  largely  pen 
etrated  American  society. 

Skepticism,  or,  as  it  was  called,  Free  Thinking,  was 
fashionable ;  it  was  aided  and  strengthened  by  some 
of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  times.  Jefferson, 
Burr,  Pierrepont,  Edwards,  of  Connecticut,  and  many 
men  of  the  same  kind,  were  not  only  skeptics,  but 
scoffers  at  Christianity.  Their  party  came  into  power, 
and  gave  a  sort  of  official  prestige  to  irreligiou.  But 
this  was  not  all ;  a  large  number  of  the  revolutionary 
army  were  licentious  men.  Of  this  cla=s  were  Burr, 
Hamilton,  and  others  of  the  same  stripe.  Hamilton 
was  not  so  unprincipled  a  man  as  Burr,  but  belonged 
to  the  same  general  caste  of  society.  No  one  can 
deny  this,  for  he  published  enough  about  himself  to 
prove  it.  Dueling,  drinking,  licentiousness,  were  not 
regarded  by  the  better  class  of  society  as  the  unpar 
donable  sins  which  they  are  now  regarded.  At  that 


14  Personal  Memories. 

time,  wine,  spirits,  and  cordials  were  offered  to  guests 
at  all  hours  of  the  day,  and  not  to  offer  them  was  con 
sidered  a  want  of  hospitality.  The  consequence  was 
that  intemperance,  in  good  society,  was  more  common 
than  now,  but  probably  not  more  so  among  the  great 
masses  of  the  people.  Intemperance  is  now  chiefly 
the  vice  of  laboring  men,  but  then  it  pervaded  all 
classes  of  society.  Judge  Bnrnet,  in  his  "ITotes  oft* 
the  Northwest,"  sajs,  ihut  of  nine  lawyers  cotcmpo- 
rary  with  himself,  in  Cincinnati,  all  but  one  died 
^drunkards.  We  see,  then,  that,  with  a  large  measure 
of  infidelity,  licentiousness,  and  intemperance  among 
the  higher  classes,  society  was  not  really  in  so  good  a 
state  as  it  is  now.  At  Marietta,  were  seyeral  men  of 
superior  intellects,  who  were  infidels,  and  others  who 
were  intemperate.  And  yet  this  pioneer  town  was 
probably  one  of  the  best  examples  of  the  society  of 
pioneer  times. 

I  have  said  that  my  father  was  appointed  to  estab 
lish  the  meridian  lines.  At  that  time  but  a  part  of 
Ohio  had  been  surveyed,  and  he  made  Marietta  his 
headquarters. 

In  the  rapid  progress  of  migration  to  the  West,  hia 
surveys  *also  were  soon  necessary  in  Western  Ohio  and 
in  Indiana.  Indiana  was  then  an  unbroken  wilder 
ness,  although  the  French  had  established  the  post  of 
Vincennes.  This  was  one  of  a  line  of  posts  which 
they  established  from  the  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
with  a  view  to  holding  all  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 
There  may  have  been  a  settlement  at  Jeffersonville, 
opposite  Louisville,  but  except  these  there  was  not  a 
white  settlement  in  Indiana.  It  became  necessary  to 
extend  the  surveyed  lines  through  that  state,  then 


Personal  Memories.  15 

only  a  part  of  the  Great  Northwest  Territory.  For 
this  purpose,  my  father,  in  1805,  in  the  month  of  Oc 
tober,  undertook  a  surveying  expedition  in  Indiana. 
As  it  was  necessary  to  live  in  the  wilderness,  prepa 
rations  for  so  doing  were  made.  The  surveying  party 
consisted  of  my  father,  three  or  four  surveyors,  two 
regular  hunters,  and  several  pack-horses.  The  busi 
ness  of  the  hunters  was  to  procure  game  and  bring  it 
into  the  camp  at  night.  Flour,  coffee,  salt,  and  sugar 
were  carried  on  pack-horses,  but  for  all  meat  the  party 
depended  on  the  hunters.  They  went  out  early  in  the 
morning  for  game  and  returned  only  at  night.  As  the 
surveying  party  moved  only  in  a  straight  line,  and  the 
distance  made  in  the  day  was  known,  it  was  easy  for 
the  hunters  to  join  the  others  in  camp.  It  was  in  this 
expedition  that  some  of  those  incidents  occurred  that 
illustrate  the  life  of  a  woodsman.  One  day  the  hunt 
ers  had  been  unfortunate,  and  got  no  game,  but 
brought  in  a  large  rattlesnake,  which  they  cut  into 
slices  and  broiled  on  the  coals.  My  father  did  not  try 
that  kind  of  steak,  but  the  hunters  insisted  the  flesh 
was  sweet  and  good.  On  another  day  a  hunter  was 
looking  into  a  cave  in  the  rocks  and  found  two  pan 
ther's  cubs,  he  put  them  in  a  bag,  and  afterward  ex 
hibited  them  in  N"ew  Orleans.  Here  let  me  say  that 
posterity  will  never  know  the  kinds  and  numbers  of 
wild  animals  which  once  lived  on  the  plains  of  the 
Ohio.  Some  are  already  exterminated,  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  can  only  be  found  on  the  mountains 
of  the  West.  A  citizen  of  these  days  will  probably 
be  astonished  to  hear  that  the  buffalo  was  once  com 
mon  in  Ohio,  and  roamed  even  on  the  banks  of  the 
Muskingum;  but  such  was  the  fact.  A  large  part  of 


16  Personal  Memories. 

Ohio  was  at  one  time  a  prairie,  and  the  vegetation  of 
the  valley  very  rich.  The  wild  plum,  the  papaw,  the 
walnut,  and  all  kinds  of  berries  were  abundant,  so  that 
Ohio  was  as  fruitful  and  abundant  to  Indians  and  wild 
animals  as  it  has  since  been  to  the  white  man.  In  the 
valleys  of  the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto,  and  the  Mi- 
amis,  were  Indian  towns  where  they  cultivated  corn, 
as  white  men  do  now.  Marietta,  Chillicothe,  Circle- 
ville,  Cincinnati,  Xenia,  and  Piqua  are  all  on  the  sites 
of  old  Indian  towns.  The  wild  animals  and  the  wild 
Indian  were  as  conscious  as  the  civilized  white  man 
that  Ohio  was  an  inviting  land — a  garden  rich  in  the 
products  which  God  had  made  for  their  support.  But 
man  was  commanded  to  live  by  labor,  hence,  when 
man,  the  laborer,  came,  he  supplanted  man,  the  hunter. 

The  animals  most  common  in  Ohio  were  the  deer, 
the  wild  turkey^ squirrel,  buffalo,  panther,  and  wolves. 
All  these  were  found  near  Marietta,  and  all  but  the 
buffalo  subsequently  near  Cincinnati.  Deer,  turkeys 
and  squirrels  were  very  numerous,  and  I  have  heard 
wolves  near  the  present  limits  of  Cincinnati.  It  is 
not  my  purpose,  however,  to  go  into  the  natural  his 
tory  of  Ohio.  The  inhabitants  of  the  woods  fast  dis 
appeared  before  the  man  with  the  spade.  I,  myself, 
saw  birds  and  animals  in  the  valleys  of  the  Miamis 
which  no  man  will  hereafter  see  wild  in  these  regions. 
I  recollect  one  bird  which  made  a  great  impression  on 
me — the  paroquet— much  like  the  parrot,  its  colors 
being  green  and  gold,  but  was  smaller.  This  bird  I 
have  seen  at  Ludlow  station  in  large  flocks.  I  was 
told  it  was  never  seen  east  of  the  Scioto. 

Our  residence  at  Marietta  lasted  two  years.  In  1803 
Ohio  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  with  a  coustitu- 


Personal  Memories.  17 

tion,  which  continued  until  1850.  The  first  Constitu 
tion  of  Ohio  was,  I  thought,  the  best  constitution  I 
ever  saw,  for  the  reason  that  it  had  the  fewest  limi 
tations.  Having  established  the  respective  functions 
of  government,  judicial,  executive,  and  legislative,  it 
put  no  limitation  on  the  power  of  the  people,  and  in 
a  democratic  government  there  should  be  none.  For 
half  a  century  Ohio  grew,  flourished,  and  prospered 
under  its  first  constitution.  It  was  the  best  and  bright 
est  period  Ohio  has  had.  It  was  the  era  of  great  pub 
lic  spirit,  of  patriotic  devotion  to  country,  and  of  the 
building  up  of  great  institutions  of  education  which 
are  now  the  strength  and  glory  of  the  state.  In 
forming  educational  institutions  I  had  some  part  my 
self,  and  I  look  upon  that  work  with  unalloyed  pleas 
ure. 


18  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER   II. 

Voyage  down  the  Ohio— 7 he  "Ark "— "  Keelboat"— Ar 
rival  at  Cincinnati — General  Findley — Fort  Washing 
ton — Indian  Lookout — Ludlow  Station — Little  Turtle; 
his  appearance,  character,  and  death — Israel  Ludlow 
Sarah  Bella  Ludlow — John  Mansfield. 

AMONG  the  most  remarkable  characteristics  of  a 
country  is  its  scenery.  I  arn  now  writing  on  the  first 
day  of  autumn,  and  in  this  region  of  the  country,  au 
tumn  is  the  most  beautiful  of  the  four  seasons.  A 
cloudless  sky,  a  cool  but  balmy  air,  the  grass  green 
and  fresh  from  recent  rains,  the  foliage  still  rich  and 
verdant,  the  distant  scene  mixed  with  every  element 
of  rural  beauty,  all  unite  to  make  this  a  lovely  and 
beautiful  season.  I  imagine  it  was  on  some  such  day, 
though  a  month  later,  in  1805,  that  my  father  and 
mother,  with  their  little  boy,  left  Marietta  for  Cincin 
nati.  There  was  then  neither  railroad,  steamboat,  nor 
stage.  How  were  they  to  travel? 

There  were  two  kinds  of  boats  on  the  Ohio,  sub 
stantially  the  same,  but  different  in  their  make.  One 
was  called  a  keelboat,  and  the  body  was  like  that  of  a 
small  steamboat,  but  was  propelled  by  poles.  Long, 
strong  poles,  with  iron  points,  were  used  by  men  who 
put  their  shoulders  at  one  end  of  the  pole,  and  by 
walking  the  length  of  the  boat,  pushing,  gained  a  dis 
tance  equal  to  the  length  of  the  boat.  Six  or  eight 
men,  by  poling,  could  thus  push  a  boat  up  stream, 


Personal  Memories.  19 

and  the  keelboats  were  the  only  boats  that  could  go 
up  stream.  Some  of  these  boats  had  small  cabins, 
well  fitted  up  for  families ;  but  I  think  our  boat  was 
not  of  that  kind,  but  an  ark,  as  it  was  called,  from  a 
supposed  resemblance  to  Noah's  vessel.  It  was  sim 
ply  an  oblong  boat,  made  of  boards,  with  a  flat  bot 
tom.  In  the  one  we  came  in,  there  was  a  small  cabin 
at  one  end  fitted  up  for  my  mother.  The  keelboat 
has  disappeared,  but  the  ark  is  occasionally  seen  ;  for 
it  is  a  cheap  conveyance,  needing  only  a  steersman  to 
keep  it  in  the  channel,  and  when  it  gets  to  the  end  of 
its  journey  is  broken  up  and  sold  for  lumber. 

We  arrived  in  Cincinnati,  I  think,  the  last  part  of 
October,  1805.  Here  occurs  the  first  memory  of  which 
I  am  absolutely  sure.  Cincinnati  was  the  first  town  I 
had  seen,  except  Marietta,  for  the  various  towns  now 
on  the  Ohio  were  then  not  in  existence.  But  what 
was  Cincinnati  then  ?  One  of  the  dirtiest  little  vil 
lages  you  ever  saw.  Of  course,  I  was  not  driven 
around  that  immense  town  to  see  its  splendors,  but 
the  principal  street  or  settlement  was  Front  street, 
and  that  I  saw.  The  chief  houses  at  that  time  were 
on  Front  street,  from  Broadway  to  Sycamore;  they 
were  two-story  frame  houses,  painted  white.  One  was 
that  of  General  Findley,  receiver  of  the  land  office. 
This  gentleman  belonged  to  a  family  in  Pennsylvania 
distinguished  in  political  affairs.  One  member  of  this 
family  was  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  one  was  member 
of  Congress  from  the  Chambersburg  district,  and  James 
Findley,  of  whom  I  speak,  was  receiver  of  public 
moneys  in  Cincinnati,  and  subsequently  member  of 
Congress  from  the  Cincinnati  district.  The  Findleys 
were  all  of  a  popular  caste  of  character.  They  were 


20  Personal  Memories. 

•sanguine,  pleasant,  genial    men.     Belonging   to   the 
Democratic   party,  at  a  time  when    that  party  was 
dominant  in  nearly  all  the  states,  they  were  readily 
promoted  to  political  honors.     James  Findley  may  he 
properly  characterized  as  a  gentleman — not  so  com 
mon  a  character  as  some  persons  suppose.     He  was 
easy  in   manner,  kind  hearted,  genial,  fond   of  good 
living,  and  a  very  upright  man.     The  Findleys  and 
my  parents  were  intimate,   hence  I  have    described 
James  Findley.     We   remained  in  Cincinnati  hut  a 
few  days,  when  my  father  removed  to  "  Ludlow  Sta 
tion."     You  may  ask  why  a  station  ?     Nobody  would 
give  such  a  name  to  a  house  now.     In  the  early  set 
tlement  of  the  Miami  country,  there  was  much  fear  of 
the  Indians,  less,  however,  by  far,  than  attended  the 
subsequent  settlements  in  Indiana  and    Illinois.     In 
fact,  and  to  the  honor  of  John  Cleves  Symmes,  the 
founder  of  the  Miami  settlements,  be  it  said,  that  he 
sought,  not  to  destroy  and  'oppress  the  Indians,  but 
to  conciliate  them  by  equity  and  justice.     No  general 
war  with  the  Indians  ever  occurred  in  the  Miami 
country,  but  of  course  there  were  some  collisions  be 
tween  them  and  the  whites.     Between   Fort   Wash 
ington,  the  original  site  of  Cincinnati,  and  Fort  Ham 
ilton,   where   Hamilton    now    is,  there   were   several 
affrays.     In  one  of  them  a  white  man  was  killed  who 
wore  a  wig.     It  is  said  that,  according  to  the  Indian 
habit,  an  Indian  ran  up  to  scalp  him,  and  took  hold 
of  the  wig;  it  came  off;  the  Indian  looked  up  aston 
ished,  and  exclaimed,  "One  big  lie!"     The  Indian 
seems  to  have  understood  one  principle  of  moral  phi 
losophy  very  well — that  a  lie  could  be  acted  as  well 
as  spoken.     These  difficulties  were  over  before  I  came 


Personal  Memories.  21 

upon  the  stage,  and  while  Fort  Washington  was  yet 
occupied  as  a  military  post  by  United  States  troops. 
At  that  time  the  Indians  often  came  near  the  fort, 
especially  on  the  neighboring  hills.  The  wife  of  Col 
onel  Strong,  who  was  an  officer  in  the  fort,  told  me  that 
she  had  often  met  and  conversed  with  White  Eyes 
and  other  Indian  chiefs.  White  Eyes  told  her  he  had 
often  watched  what  was  going  on  in  the  fort  from 
what  has  since  been  the  site  of  the  old  Cincinnati 
Observatory.  On  the  brow  of  the  hill  (Mt.  Adams), 
there  was  then  a  very  large  oak  tree,  which  I  have 
myself  seen.  It  was  in  the  branches  of  this  tree  that 
White  Eyes  concealed  himself,  looked  down  upon  the 
fort,  and  saw  all  that  was  going  on. 

At  the  time  I  came  upon  the  scene  as  a  child,  in 
1805-6,  the  Indians  had  almost  wholly  passed  away 
from  this  region,  and  no  danger  was  apprehended 
from  them.  The  "  stations,"  as  they  were  called,  of 
which  Ludlow  was  one,  were  originally  points  of  ren 
dezvous  and  defense.  They  soon  ceased  to  be  of  that 
character,  but  their  names  remained  on  the  popular 
tongue  and  on  the  maps  almost  until  the  present  day. 
We  removed,  as  I  have  said,  to  Ludlow  Station.  It 
was  built  by  Colonel  Ludlow,  one  of  the  original  pro 
prietors  of  Cincinnati.  It  was  then  a  large  two-story 
dwelling,  with  wings — the  best  looking  and,  I  think, 
the  largest  house  then  at  Cincinnati.  My  father 
being  Surveyor-General  took  one  of  the  wings  as  his 
office,  and  the  other  was  used  as  a  kitchen;  a  lawn 
sloped  down  toward  Millcreek,  and  there  was  a  large 
garden.  This  house  is  still  standing  in  the  midst  of 
Cumminsville.  This  leads  me  to  what  I  thought  a 
remarkable  incident.  After  the  campaign  and  vie- 


22  Personal  Memories. 

tory  of  Wayne  in  1795,  a  treaty  was  made  with  the 
Indians  called  the  treaty  of  Greenville.  The  north 
ern  boundary  of  the  Indians,  one  point  of  which  was 
Greenville,  ran  through  northern  Ohio,  and  had  been 
not  quite  determined  when  my  father  carne  to  Ludlow 
Station.  It  was  one  part  of  his  business  to  run  that 
line,  and  it  was  something  in  reference  to  that  which 
occasioned  the  following  incident. 

One  day  a  dark  man,  with  swarthy  countenance, 
riding  a  very  fine  horse,  dismounted  at  our  house  and 
went  into  my  father's  office.  I  wanted  to  go  in  and 
see  him,  but  for  some  reason  was  not  allowed  to.  Af 
ter  some  time — it  was  in  the  forenoon,  I  think — I  sa\v 
him  come  out,  mount  his  horse,  and  ride  rapidly  away. 
I  was  struck  by  the  man,  and  asked  rny  mother,  "who 
is  that,  ma?"  She  said  it  was  "LITTLE  TURTLE," 
the  great  Indian  chief.  And  here  I  will  extract  from 
my  discourse  on  the  pioneers,  which  is  founded  on  the 
best  authorities  and  will  give  you  some  idea  of  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  men  among  the  aboriginal  races 
of  this  country.  There  had  been  four  distinguished 
Indian  chiefs  in  this  country,  wTho  were  the  principal 
figures  in  the  confederacies,  which  at  different  times 
were  formed  to  suppress  the  w7hite  men,  and  save 
the  Indian  race  from  destruction.  These  were  "  KING 
PHILIP,"  in  New  England,  PONTIAC,  in  the  northwest, 
BRANDT  (in  the  Indian  tongue,  Thayendanega),  chief 
of  the  Mohaw7ks,  and  LITTLE  TURTLE,  chief  of  the 
Miamis.  It  is  far  from  the  purpose  of  these  "Memories" 
to  recite  the  history  of  Philip,  of  Pontiac,  or  of 
Brandt,  but  I  saw  Little  Turtle  myself,  and  his  name 
is  associated  with  the  early  history  of  the  Miami 
country.  When  the  early  settlers  arrived  on  the 


Personal  Memories.  23 

Muskingura  and  the  Miamis,  they  found  the  Indians 
friendly.  This  was  a  consequence  of  the  wise  policy 
of  Putnam  and  of  Symmes  ;  for  both  had,  in  their 
very  first  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  taken  meas 
ures  to  conciliate  them  and  show  a  friendly  feeling. 
This  friendship  was,  however,  interrupted  by  the  con 
spiracy  which  Brandt  was  then  forming.  The  spirit  and 
energy  necessary  to  such  an  organization  were  sup 
plied  by  the  successive  defeats  of  Harmer  and  St. 
Clair,  an  account  of  which  you  will  find  in  the  cur 
rent  history  of  the  day.  It  was  just  after  these  In 
dian  triumphs,  and  with  the  high  hopes,  which  victory 
gives,  that  a  conference  was  held  at  the  mouth  of  De 
troit  river,  between  the  commissioner  of  the  United 
States  and  those  of  the  confederate  Indian  tribes. 
This  was  a  crisis  in  the  Indian  destiny.  The  orator  of 
the  Indians  was  Brandt;  and  the  claim  and  argument 
set  up  were  at  once  ingenious  and  powerful.  They 
denied  the  authority  of  former  treaties,  and  claimed 
the  Ohio  as  the  boundary.  They  represented  them 
selves  as  without  a  country ;  that  no  more  lands  re 
mained  for  them  to  occupy,  and  that  all  they  asked 
was  the  country  north  of  the  Ohio,  and  perpetual 
peace.  But  the  settlements  of  Marietta  and  Cincin 
nati  were  in  the  way ;  and  for  this,  they  had  a  ready 
reply  :  "  We  know,"  said  they,  "  that  these  settlers  are 
poor  ;  now,  offer  them  the  large  sums  of  money  which 
you  offer  us,  and  they  will  be  glad  to  return." 

The  boundary  of  the  Ohio  was  refused  by  the 
American  Commissioners,  because  the  country  of  the 
Miamis,  the  Scioto,  and  the  Muskingum,  had  already 
been  ceded  in  the  treaty  of  Fort  Ilarmer.  The  con 
ference  broke  up,  and  with  that  conference  the  Indian 


24  Personal  Memories. 

dominion  perished  forever.     The  last  hope  that  even 
a  fragment  of  that  race  could  remain   perished  there. 
The    Indians   shrieked    their    warwhoop    along   the 
frontier,   and    Wayne  sonnded  his  bugles   along  the 
Ohio.     In  Cincinnati,  the  northwestern  army  assem 
bled.     l5Jr"was  encamped  on  Millcrcek  bottom.     Its 
sentinels  walked  on  Fifth  street  Mound,  which  stood 
at  the  foot  of  the  present  Mound  street,  and  is  now 
gone — demolished  by  the  hand  of  civilization — but 
was  then  a  remaining  monument  to  races  long  disap 
peared,  whose   history  is  unknown,  and    whose  very 
existence  is  becoming  rapidly  obscured  in  the  mists 
of  time.    Thus,  in  the  summer  of  1793,  Wayne  drilled 
his  troops  in  all  the  arts  of  Indian  warfare,  and  es 
pecially  in  those  maneuvers  which  were  suggested  by 
Washington  himself,  and  derived  from  his  early  ex 
perience.     The  army  was  wintered  on  the  Stilhvater 
Branch  of  the  Miami,  and  in  the  spring  moved  slowly 
forward.     It  was  more  than  once  furiously  attacked, 
but  it  got  to  be  near  the  end  of  August,  1794,  before 
the    gathered    bands     of    the     Delawares,    Miamis, 
Ottawas,    Shawnese,  and   Wyandots  were  ready  for 
their  last  great  battle.     Then  they  descended  like  the 
northern  blast,  but  only  to  be  broken   and  dispersed 
forever.     The  battle  of  the  "  Fallen  Timber,  at  the 
Manmee  Rapids,  was  fatal  to  the  Indian  power,  and 
the  victory  of  Wayne  was  the  last  act  in  the  conquest 
of  the  northwest. 

This  last  confederacy  had  been  founded  by  Brandt, 
but  the  figure  which  stands  out  on  the  historical 
canvass,  in  bold  relief,  is  that  of  MECHE  CUNNAQUA,  the 
Little  Turtle,  chief  of  the  Miamis.  This  most  acute 
and  sagacious  of  Indian  statesmen  was,  it  is  said,  even 


Personal  Memories.  25 

a  polished  gentleman.  He  had  wit,  humor,  and  intelli 
gence.  He  was  an  extensive  traveler  and  had  visited 
all  parts  of  the  country,  and  became  acquainted  with 
the  most  distinguished  men.  He  had  seen  and  ad 
mired  General  Washington.  He  was  presented  with 
a  pair  of  pistols,  by  Kosciusko,  and  the  Polish  Hero 
told  him  to  use  them  in  defense  of  his  country.  He 
was  intimate  with  the  French  Philosopher,  Volney, 
who  constructed  a  vocabulary  of  the  Indian  tongue 
from  his  information.  In  conversation  with  Volney, 
the  Frenchman  told  him  that  the  Indians  had  come 
from  the  Tartars,  in  Asia.  "  But,"  said  Little  Turtle, 
"  10 liy  may  not  the  Tartars  have  come  from  America  ?  " 
Are  there  any  reasons  to  the  contrary  ? 

"Little  Turtle"  commanded  the  Indian  forces  at 
the  defeat  of  Harmer  and  at  the  defeat  of  St.  Glair; 
but,  though  present  and  lighting  bravely  at  the  battle 
of  the  "  Fallen  Timber,"  seems  not  to  have  command 
ed.  He  advised  against  the  attack,  and  said  to  the 
Indians  :  u  We  have  beaten  the  enemy  twice  ;  we  can 
not  expect  always  the  same  good  fortune.  The  Ameri 
cans  are  now  led  by  a  chief  who  never  sleeps.  The 
day  and  the  night  are  alike  to  him.  1  advise  peace. 
When  defeat  came  upon  him  and  disaster  pressed 
upon  his  nation,  he  was  still  calm,  prudent,  wise,  and 
fearless.  He  signed  the  treaty  of  Greenville  with  the 
chiefs  of  ten  tribes,  and  never  again  appeared  on  the 
field  of  battle.  A  few  years  after  that  event,  he  came 
(as  I  have  related  above),  to  my  father's  house,  at 
"  Ludlow  Station,"  to  arrange  for  the  survey  of  the 
Greenville  line.  As  he  rode  away  from  the  house,  in  the 
declining  sun,  I  might,  without  any  violent  stretch  of 
imagination  have  seemed  to  see  the  last  great  spirit  of 


26  Personal  Memories. 

the  Indian  race  leaving  the  land  of  his  fathers,  look 
ing,  for  the  last  time,  upon  the  beautiful  valley  of  the 
Miamis,  and  bidding  farewell  to  each  bill,  and  wood, 
and  stream  forever. 

Thirty  years  after  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  he  died, 
at  Fort  Wayne,  of  the  gout  (!) — which  would  seem 
a  marvellous  fact,  did  we  not  remember  that  the 
"  Turtle"  was  a  high-liver  and  a  gentleman  ;  equally 
remarkable  was  it  that  his  body  was  borne  to  the 
grave,  with  the  highest  honors,  by  his  great  enemy, 
the  white  man.  The  muffled  drum,  the  funeral  sa 
lute,  announced  that  a  great  soldier  had  fallen,  and 
even  enemies  paid  their  mournful  tribute  to  his  mem 
ory.  The  sun  of  Indian  glory  set  with  him  ;  and  the 
clouds  and  shadows,  which  for  two  hundred  years  had 
gathered  round  their  destiny,  now  closed  in  the  star 
less  night  of  death. 

"  Ludlow  Station  "  belonged  to  Col.  Israel  Ludlow. 
ISRAEL  LUDLOW  was  one  of  the  proprietors  of  Cincin 
nati,  and,  under  Judge  Symmes,  the  purchaser  of  tho 
Miami  country,  laid  out  Cincinnati,  and  was  the 
surveyor  of  the  adjacent  country.  The  original 
proprietors  were  Denman,  Patterson,  and  Filson 
(a  schoolmaster)  ;  but,  in  an  exploring  expedition, 
Filson  was  killed,  and  by  a  subsequent  arrangement, 
Ludlow  took  his  place  as  one  of  the  proprietors  of 
Cincinnati,  and  also  the  surveyor  of  the  Syrnmes  pur 
chase.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  trace  the  early  history 
of  Cincinnati — of  which  there  are  now  sufficient 
materials — but  only  those  events  connected  with  our 
own  family.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  Col.  Ludlow  hav 
ing  built  "Ludlow  Station" — then  quite  a  handsome 
building — died  just  before  my  father  came  to  Cincin- 


Personal  Memories.  27 

nati.  My  father  rented  the  place,  at  what  would  now 
be  a  very  low  price.  It  had  a  large  apple  orchard 
and  two  gardens — a  kitchen  and  a  flower  garden.  Be 
fore  we  left,  Mrs.  Ludlow  married  Mr.  Risk,  a  clergy 
man,  and  lived  in,  or  near,  Cincinnati  for  several 
years.  Mrs.  Risk  (Ludlow)  came  from  Chamberburg 
(Pa.),  and  was  of  the  Chambers  family.  She  was  a 
pious,  devoted  woman,  who  was  thought,  by  her 
friends,  to  be  a  very  superior  woman.  She  was  the 
grandmother  of  the  third  MRS.  CHASE,  who  was  a 
daughter  of  James  C.  Ludlow.  Mrs.  Risk  was  an 
occasional  visitor  at  our  house,  and  some  of  my  earliest 
memories  are  connected  with  her  daughter.  SARAH 
BELLA  LUDLOW  (now  Mrs.  McLean)  was  quite  near 
my  own  age.  When  they  left  the  "  Station  "  for  us, 
the  little  Sarah  gave  me,  in  a  keg,  a  large  number 
of  duck's  eggs,  which  subsequently  proved  a  great 
amusement.  I  hatched  my  eggs  under  hens,  and 
found  myself  having  (I  suppose,  by  selection)  a  flock 
of  seventeen  ducks,  all  of  which  were  white,  without 
a  dark  feather.  That  flock  of  ducks  was  my  pride 
and  delight.  One  day  I  was  thrown  into  a  great 
fright  by  a  very  natural,  though,  to  me,  a  strange  in 
cident.  Wild  ducks  were  very  numerous  in  the  creek, 
and  my  white  ducks  got  to  associating  with  them ;  so 
one  morning  the  wild  ducks  took  flight  into  the  skies; 
and  my  ducks  with  them.  I  thought  they  were  gone  ; 
but  after  a  while,  to  my  delight,  they  returned.  The  little 
Sarah  Bella  was  one  day  at  our  house  with  her  mother, 
when  (as  I  was  recently  reminded  by  Mrs.  McLean) 
we  undertook  to  run  a  race  in  the  porch.  She  says  that 
I  outrun  her,  and  my  looks  expressed  triumph  ;  but, 
seeing  her  mortified,  I  expressed  sympathy.  So  it  is, 


28  Personal  Memories. 

that  the  little  things  of  life  often  make  a  stronger 
impression  than  the  great  ones ;  and  so  is  it  that  the 
little  boys  and  girls  are  only  miniature  men  and 
women. 

SARAH  BELLA  LUDLOW,  I  can  recollect,  was  then  a 
fair-haired,  bright-eyed  girl,  a  perfect  blonde.  She 
grew  up  to  be  a  very  handsome  woman,  and  was  as 
brilliant  as  handsome.  She  was,  as  long  as  I  saw 
much  of  her,  one  of  the  most  attractive  persons  in 
society.  She  married  a  young  lawyer  from  Kentucky, 
named  GARRARD,  and  had  four  sons,  two  of  whom 
(Garrards)  were  generals  in  the  war,  and  were  active 
and  gallant  soldiers.  Being  a  widow,  Mrs.  Garrard 
married  Judge  McLean,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
for  several  years  accompanied  the  Judge  to  Washing 
ton  City,  where  she  always  appeared  as  a  charming 
and  elegant  woman.  Again  a  widow,  Mrs.  McLean 
has  till  recently  resided  at  Fontenac,  on  Lake  Pepin, 
where  she  and  her  sons  hold  a  great  estate.  She  is  a 
pious  and  fervent  Christian,  much  devote,d  to  the  tenets 
of  her  own  church,  believing  baptism  by  immersion 
an  essential  point  of  Christianity.  I  have  thus  men 
tioned  Mrs.  McLean,  not  only  because  she  has  been  a 
distinguished  woman,  but  also  because  it  is  not  often 
we  can  testify,  at  the  distance  of  more  than  sixty 
years,  to  those  whom  we  knew  in  their  childhood,  and 
have  known  during  an  entire  generation,  of  which 
nearly  all  have  passed  to  the  grave. 

I  can  not  stop  to  describe,  even  if  memory  would 
permit,  the  many  brilliant,  and  some  of  them  after 
ward  greatly  distinguished,  persons  who  were  either 
members  of  our  family  or  visitors  at  Lndlow  Station. 
Among  others  were  John  Mansfield,  a  young  man  of 


Personal  Memories.  29 

extraordinary  worth  and  genius;  Joseph  Totten,  who 
afterward  became  General  of  Engineers;  Dr.  Daniel 
Drake,  the  most  distinguished  physician  of  the  Ohio 
valley;  Judge — afterward  Governor — Brown,  and 
others  of  less  note,  but  equally  agreeable  members  of 
the  social  circle.  I  was  too  young  to  take  much  note 
of  society,  but  most  of  them  I  knew  in  after  life,  and 
many  I  did  not  know  my  mother  fully  described.  Of 
most  of  them  I  shall  speak  hereafter. 

Memories  so  distant  must,  of  course,  be  faint ;  but,  it 
seems  to  me  I  can  yet  see  Ludlow  Station,  where  I  was 
a  boy,  when  no  railroad  was  heard  of;  when  no  City  of 
the  Dead  reminded  us  of  generations  past;  when  the 
wolves'  long  howl  could  still  be  heard;  when  the  paro 
quet  was  still  seen  with  his  golden  wings;  when  the 
green  lawn  stretched  down  from  the  "  Station,"  lined 
with  bending  trees.  Alas!  it  is  gone;  and  no  hand 
of  civilization,  with  all  its  art  and  all  its  wealth,  can 
replace  much  that  is  lost.  We  boast  of  "  progress;" 
we  talk  of  civilization;  we  really  think  that  we  are 
superior,  and  certainly,  if  the  mechanic  arts  be  the 
test,  we  are ;  but  there  was  much  in  the  old  pioneer 
society  wThich,  to  say  the  least,  was  more  agreeable. 
In  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  people,  there  was 
was  more  genius  then  than  there  is  now;  society  was 
fresh;  men  were  more  honest;  women  were  more  so 
cial,  and  fashion  did  not  exercise  so  much  control.  On 
the  frontier,  in  a  new  state  of  society,  there  are,  of 
course,  more  adventures,  and  there  was  also  much 
more  speculation  upon  the  course  of  events.  In  one 
word,  there  was  more  that  was  new.  notwithstanding 
all  the  mighty  doings  of  telegraph  and  railroads — I 


30  Personal  Memories. 

mean  more  that  was  new,  in  the  actual  doing  of  things 
around. 

I  will  close  this    chapter   in    the   words  of  my  old 
fr i end,  G al  1  agh e r :.  * 

"We  lu'd  not  hermit  lives,  but  oft  in  social  converse  met, 
And  fires  of  love  were  kindled  then  that  burn  on  warmly  yet. 
0!  pleasantly  the  stream  of  life  pursued  its  constant  flow, 
In  the  days  when  we  were  pioneers,  sixty  years  ago !  " 

•*W.  D.  Gallagher,  poet  and  editor. 


Personal  Memories.  31 


CHAPTER  III. 

First  Observatory  at  Ludlow  Station — Public  Surveys — 
Society  in  the  Country —  War  0/1812 — Volunteer  Com 
panies —  Captain  Mansfield — General  Totten — Travel- 
in  fj  in  1809 — First  View  of  a  Steamboat — Log  School 
House— The  Hunters— Earthquakes  of  1812. 

LUDLOW  Station  adjoins  the  present  Spring  Grove 
Cemetery,  which  is  a  part  of  the  original  Ludlow  farm. 
More  than  thirty  years  ago,  I  accompanied  a  party  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen  to  view  the  ground  afterward 
selected  as  the  site  of  the  cemetery.  In  my  boyhood, 
I  had  set  quail  traps  there,  hut  at  the  time  it  was  se 
lected  for  the  cemetery  it  was  a  grass  field  with  a  few 
scattering  trees.  In  the  short  period  which  has  passed 
since  then,  it  has  become  populous  with  the  dead.  In 
the  presence  of  such  a  reminiscence,  one  may  say  with 
Young — 

"  "Pis  greatly  wise  to  talk  with  our  past  hours, 
And  ask  them  what  report  they  've  borne  to  Heaven — 
And  how  they  might  have  borne  more  welcome  news." 

They  might,  but  who  can  tell  ?  We  know  the  road 
we  have  traveled,  but  not  the  road  we  might  have 
gone.  Some  one  has  said,  it  is  sad  to  think  what 
might  have  been  true ;  but  it  might  have  been  much 
sadder  to  have  known  it.  For  my  own  part,  I  would 
much  rather  have  taken  the  happiness  I  've  had  in  the 
path  I  actually  trod,  than  to  have  taken  a  chance  of 
more  in  any  other  path.  Then  let  the  rnighj;  have 


32  Personal  Memories. 

been  rest  with  the  unknown.  I  have  said  already, 
that  my  father  was  appointed  hy  Mr.  Jefferson  for  the 
express  purpose  of  running  the  meridian  lines,  on 
which  our  whole  system  of  public  surveys  depend. 
The  astronomical  instruments,  whose  purchase  by  Mr. 
Jefferson  has  been  described,  were  set  up  in  one  room 
at  our  house,  at  Ludlow  Station.  Hence,  as  I  have 
often  said,  the  first  real  observatory  was  established 
in  our  house.1  There  my  father  made  such  astronom 
ical  calculations  as  were  necesssary  to  his  purpose. 
Besides  these,  he  calculated  the  orbit  of  the  great 
comet  of  1807,  an  account  of  which  was  published  in 
the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Connecticut  Academy  of 
Arts  and  Sciences."  I  was  sometimes  allowed  to  look 
through  the  telescope,  and  remember  to  have  been 
much  pleased  at  seeing,  at  noon-day,  Jupiter  and  his 
moons  as  plainly,  and  seemingly  more  beautiful, 
though  not  so  large,  as  we  see  our  moon  with  the  un 
assisted  eye-sight.  While  my  father  was  in  office,  he 
established  three  of  the  principal  meridians  in  Ohio 
and  Indiana,  and  by  them  were  surveyed  the  great 
body  of  lands  to  the  north  and  west  of  Cincinnati. 
In  his  employment,  as  deputies,  were  many  young 
men  who  became  afterward  the  most  successful  and 
distinguished  men  of  the  West.  Among  these  were 
Thomas  Worthington,  afterward  governor  and  United 
States  senator;  Lewis  Cass,  afterward  governor,  sen 
ator,  secretary,  and  embassador,  who  was  one  of  his 
clerks ;  Ebenezer  Buckingham,  of  Zanesville,  subse 
quently  a  very  wealthy  man  ;  Governor  Ethan  Allen 
Brown;  the  Rectors,  two  of  whom  were  Surveyors- 

1  See  an  account  of  Observatories  in  Harpers'  Magazine. 


Personal  Memories.  33 

General  in  the  West,  and  others  whose  names  I  do  not 
recall.  He  had,  at  one  time,  as  many  as  forty  depu 
ties  having  contracts  for  surveys.  To  the  honor  of 
himself,  as  well  as  his  generation,  I  will  mention  a 
fact  which  has  seldom  its  counterpart  now.  In  all  the 
settlements  of  his  accounts  with  the  treasury,  he  was 
never  once  indebted  to  the  government,  but  the  gov-- 
ernment  always  to  him.  He  expended  very  large 
sums  of  money,  and  made  his  settlements  with  Mr. 
Gallatin,  then  Secrefary  of  the  Treasury.  Mr.  Gnilla- 
tin  was  a  very  exact  man,  and  the  correspondence 
with  him,  which.  I  have  looked  over,  shows  much 
more  exactness  and  care  in  public  business  than  is 
now  found. 

Perhaps,  I  may  here  mention  our  mode  of  living, 
as  illustrating  the  manners  and  customs  of  that  day. 
The  family  were  not  lonely,  although  occupying  a 
solitary  country  house  near  the  then  village  of  Cin 
cinnati.  At  that  time,  a  gentleman's  country  house 
was  a  semi-hotel,  Taverns  were  scarce,  and  it  would 
have  been  a  breach  of  hospitality  not  to  have  re 
ceived  and  entertained  any  respectable  looking  person 
who  came  along. 

Besides  these  casual  guests,  there  was  a  young  lady 
with  us,  who  often  entertained  friends  from  Cincinnati, 
among  whom  were  two  or  three  gentlemen,  afterward 
quite  distinguished.  My  father's  office  was  also  the  cen 
ter  of  a  large  public  business ;  so,  in  fact,  we  saw  a  good 
deal  of  society ;  the  only  lonely  person  was  myself, 
a  boy  in  the  country  with  no  other  boy  to  associate 
with,  no  school  to  attend,  always  with  older  persons. 
I  was  not  intoxicated  with  the  levities,  frivolities, 
and  fancies  of  youthful  life.  On  the  contrary,  I  was, 


34  Personal  Memories. 

of  necessity,  lonely,  timid,  and  abstracted.  The  im 
press  of  that  timidity  and  abstraction  remained  upon 
my  character  until  I  had  passed  the  meridian  of  life. 
Our  family  was  an  interesting  one,  and  two  or  three 
of  its  members  were  afterward  distinguished  in  public 
life.  The  young  lady,  I  mentioned,  was  Miss  Harriet 
Sisson,  my  father's  niece  and  adopted  daughter. 
While  at  Ludlow  Station,  she  married  Dr.  Daniel 
Drake,  a  man  of  genius  and  science.  My  father  had 
in  his  office  two  nephews,  both  of  whom  were  pleas 
ing  and  even  brilliant  men.  One  of  these,  Captain 
John  Fenno  Mansfield,  was  an  older  brother  of  Gen. 
Joseph  Mansfield,  killed  at  Antietam.  Captain  John 
F.  Mansfield  was  thought  by  my  parents,  who  were 
good  judges,  to  be  the  most  promising  man  they  knew. 
He/was  a  man  of  genius,  a  student  of  science,  and  an 
elegant  writer.  Some  of  his  articles  appeared  in 
"  The  Portfolio"  then  edited  by  Joseph  Dennie.  An 
ticipating  some  years  following  the  time  of  his  resi 
dence  with  us,  I  will  here  give  a  sketch  of  his  brief 
career.  In  November,  1811,  occurred  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe,  which,  although  seven  months  before  the 
declaration  of  it,  was,  in  fact,  the  beginning  of  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain.  The  Indians,  under 
the  leadership  of  the  "  Prophet"  and  hjs  brother  Te- 
cumseh,  had  for  a  third  time  formed  a  confederacy 
under  the  impression  that  they  could  drive  the  whites 
from  the  Western  Territories.  They  were  assembled 
at  the  Prophet's  town,  near  the  Wabash,  where  they 
were  attacked  and  defeated  by  Governor  Harrison. 
In  all  their  preparations  and  in  all  their  subsequent 
conduct  in  the  war,  they  were  urged  on  and  assisted 
by  the  British.  Of  this,  there  is  no  doubt,  and  it  is 


Personal  Memories.  35 

one  of  the  facts  which  ought  never  to  be  forgotten  by 
those  who  wish  to  understand  the  history  of  those 
times.  It  is  enough  to  say,  that  in  the  following  spring 
— 1812 — the  war  seemed  inevitable.  The  government 
ought  to  have  begun  its  preparations  five  years  before, 
when  a  wanton  attack  was  made  on  the  frigate  Chesa 
peake.  If  the  reader  will  look  back  seventy  years,  he 
will  be  astonished  at  the  vast  change  which  has  taken 
place  in  the  relations  of  this  country  fo  other  nations. 

At  that  time,  British  cruisers  searched  American 
ships  and  impressed  American  seamen.  What  conn- 
try  would  now  venture  to  search  an  American  ship  or 
impress  American  seamen?  Or  attack  an  American 
frigate?  Or  conspire  with  American  Indians?  And 
yet  these  things  were  done  by  Great  Britain.  "What 
country  would  now  venture  to  confiscate  American 
ships  and  property  in  foreign  harbors  ?  And  yet  this 
was  done  by  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  who  confiscated 
American  ships  and  tobacco  in  the  harbor  of  Antwerp. 
This  was  all  ended  by  the  war  of  1812-15.  It  was 
the  second  war  for  independence,  and  the  last  one. 
Now,  all  is  changed.  England  paid,  because  she  per 
mitted  privateers  to  be  fitted  out  against  us  in  the 
Rebellion,  fifteen  millions  of  dollars  into  our  treasury. 
France,  which  had  untertaken  to  put  Maximilian  on 
the  throne  of  Mexico,  retreated  speedily,  when  a  dip 
lomatic  note  informed  her  that  America  tolerated  no 
intrusion  on  her  ground.  All  that  is  past.  This  great 
Eepublic  is  now  beyond  the  interference,  the  attacks, 
or  the  insults  of  any  other  nation  upon  earth. 

I  rejoice  that  from  1765 — for  that  year  was  the  be 
ginning  of  the  controversy — the  American  people 
have  maintained  that  controver.-y,  till  they  have  es- 


36  Personal  Memories. 


tablished  not  only  their  independence,  but  their  power- 
to  influence  and  direct  all  the  future  movements  of 
mankind.  The  battle  of  Tippecanoe  occurred,  as  we 
have  said,  seven  months  before  the  declaration  of  war, 
in  1812,  but  was,  in  reality,  the  beginning  of  that  war. 
In  the  spring  of  1812,  the  army,  which  was  to  be 
commanded  by  General  Hull,  began  to  assemble  at 
Cincinnati.  Governor  Meigs  called  out  the  First  Di 
vision  of  Ohio  militia,  to  meet  at  Hutchinsoirs  Tav 
ern,  on  the  Colerain  rond.  This  was  near  our  house, 
and  I  went  with  my  father  to  the  place  of  meeting. 
The  division  was  drawn  out  in  line,  and  presented  as 
motley  an  appearance  as  has  ever  been  seen.  Some 
of  the  men  had  rifles,  but  the  greater  part  only  sticks 
and  cornstalks.  As  to  uniform,  there  were  all  kinds 
of  apparel,  from  hunting-shirts  to  butternut  jack 
ets.  There  was,  however,  an  exception.  Cincinnati 
boasted  at  that  time  of  two  volunteer  companies. 
One  was  a  company  of  light  infantry,  commanded  by 
Captain  John  Mansfield,  of  whom  I  have  spoken. 
The  other  was  a  company  of  dragoons,  commanded 
by  Captain  Sloan e.  These  were  formed  on  the  right 
and  left  of  the  militia  line.  When  the  call  was  made 
for  volunteers,  it  seemed  to  me  the  whole  division 
volunteered.  At  any  rate,  these  two  volunteer  compa 
nies  were  received,  and  made  part  of  the  army  of 
Hull.  Captain  Mansfield  entered  upon  this  campaign 
with  the  zeal  and  high  hopes  of  a  young  man,  but  he 
had  not  advanced  far  with  the  army,  on  the  way  to 
Canada,  before  he  wrote  to  his  uncle,  what  afterward 
proved  the  truth  of  history,  that  General  Hull  was  an 
imbecile,  from  whom  nothing  but  disaster  could  be 
expected. 


Personal  Memories.  37 

I  need  not  relate  the  particulars  of  that  campaign. 
Hull  surrendered  his  army  to  the  British  without 
striking  a  blow,  to  the  disgust  and  indignation  of  the 
whole  army.  Captain  Mansfield  was  surrendered 
with  the  others.  He  was  released ;  but  in  crossing 
Lake  Erie  took  a  fever.  He  had  barely  strength 
enough  to  return  to  Cincinnati,  and  died  at  the  house 
of  his  friend,  Ethan  Stone,  Esq.,  not  of  fever  alone, 
but  of  a  broken  heart.  Another  member  of  our  fam 
ily  circle  was  Joseph  Gilbert  Totten,  my  father's 
nephew,  and  one  of  his  clerks.  He  was  then  about 
eighteen  years  of  age,  a  genial,  pleasant,  and  popular 
person.  I  will  here  make  a  brief  mention  of  his  life. 
At  my  father's  instance,  he  was  appointed  a  cadet  at 
West  Point.  From  there  he  was  appointed  Lieuten 
ant  of  Engineers,  and  stationed  at  New  Haven,  build 
ing  the  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  When  the 
war  of  1812-1815  came  on,  he  was  sent  to  the  Niagara 
frontier.  He  was  in  the  battle  of  Queenstown 
Heights,  and  was  distinguished  and  promoted.  The 
year  after  the  war  he  married  Catalina  Pearson.  The 
marriage  was  a  singular  one.  Miss  Pearson's  father 
having  objected,  solely  because  Totten  was  an  officer 
of  the  army,  the4overs  ran  away,  and  were  married 
at  the  house  of  a  friend.  They  came  immediately  to 
our  house  at  West  Point,  and  my  father  approved 
their  conduct,  and  received  them  cordially.  Totten 
was  continually  promoted  until  he  became  Chief  of 
the  Engineer  Corps.  He  accompanied  General  Scott 
to  Mexico,  and  superintended  the  siege  of  Yera  Cruz. 
When  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  came  on,  he  was  one 
of  the  chief  men  who,  with  General  Scott,  devised 
the  mode  and  means  bv  which  the  war  was  to  be  con- 


88  Personal  Memories. 

ducted.  One  of  the  modes,  and  the  most  important 
one,  was  to  seize  the  Mississippi  river,  open  communi 
cation  with  New  Orleans,  and  cut  off  Rebel  communi 
cation.  In  the  beginning  of  the  wrar  the  Mississippi 
was  the  axis  of  the  operations  of  the  Rebels.  They 
seized,  armed,  and  garrisoned  every  defensible  point 
on  the  Mississippi  from  Columbus,  Kentucky,  to  New 
Orleans.  The  first  step  necessary  to  the  success  of  the 
government  was  to  seize  this  river.  It  was  the  plan 
of  General  Scott  and  of  General  Totten  to  seize  and 
use  the  steamboats,  build  gunboats,  and  do  exactly 
what  was  done  when  Admiral  Foote  and  General 
Grant  captured  Fort  Donaldson,  and  in  1863  captured 
Vicksburg.  It  was  not  until  this  was  done  that  suc 
cess  in  the  East  was  possible,  and  the  military  critic 
of  the  future  will  recognize  this  fact  as  the  element 
necessary  to  the  success  of  the  government.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  General  Totten  died,  and  on  the  very 
day  of  his  death  was  honored  by  being  brevetted  Ma 
jor-General  in  the  army,  for  in  the  Engineer  Corps 
there  is  no  higher  rank  than  that  of  Brigadier.  No 
better,  braver,  or  more  patriotic  officer  served  in  the 
American  army  than  General  Joseph  G.  Totten.  The 
reader  will  now  understand  that  our  family  at  Ludlow 
Station  was  an  interesting  one.  My  cousin,  afterward 
Mrs.  Drake,  Captain  Mansfield,  and  the  subsequent 
General  Totten,  were  persons  who  would  have  been 
respected  and  admired  in  any  cultivated  society. 
They  owed  something  of  their  geniality  and  success 
to  my  mother.  No  one  ever  associated  with  her  with 
out  feeling  the  magnetic  power  of  a  superior  mind.  She 
was  the  perceptible  influence  which  guided  the  course 
of  several  young  men  who  became,  in  time,  among 


Personal  Memories.  39 

the  first  in  the  first  rank  of  their  country.  But  I  will 
return  to  my  narrative.  We  lived  at  Ludlow  Station 
from  October,  1805,  to  June,  1809,  nearly  four  years. 
They  were  years  of  interest  to  me,  although,  except 
my  memory  of  pioneer  life  and  of  my  interesting 
cousins,  there  was  really  nothing  which  made  them 
of  special  after  value  to  my  life.  I  went  to  no  school, 
and  have  no  memory  of  any  sort  of  education,  even 
of  my  mother.  One  event  in  natural  events  I  well 
remember.  In  January,  1807,  two  men  were  frozen 
to  death  on  the  Hamilton  Road.  Nothing  is  more 
common  than  remarks  about  "This  season  being  very 
hot,"  or  "  This  winter  being  very  cold  ;"  but,  in  the 
course  of  half  a  century,  all  seasons  average  as  in  cen 
turies  before.  The  world  may  be  frozen  to  death,  or 
wasted  to  death,  but  in  my  time  the  seasons  have 
averaged  just  the  same  as  in  periods  long  ago.  The 
Scripture  tells  us  that  the  earth  will  be  burnt  with 
"fervent  heat."  I  believe  it,  for  the  fires  in  tl*e  inte 
rior  of  the  earth  are  far  superior  to  the  ice  storm, 
coming  down  from  the  north,  which  we  all  dread. 

My  father  always  had  a  longing  for  the  land  of  his 
birth.  He  had  now  been  six  years  in  the  West,  and 
longed  to  see  his  kindred,  and  to  walk  under  the  shad 
ows  of  old  Yale,  where  he  graduated.  Accordingly, 
in  the  summer  of  1809,  we  paid  a  visit  to  his  friends 
and  relatives  in  the  East.  I  was  too  young  to  pay 
much  attention  to  the  journey;  but  some  of  its  inci 
dents  were  remarkable. 

In  1807,  the  first  steamboat  in  this  country,  and,  I 
believe,  in  the  world,  was  launched  in  New  York, 
called,  I  think,  "  The  North  River."  Two  years  after, 
when  we  arrived  in  New  York,  the  third  steamboat, 


40  Personal  Memories. 

culled  the  "  Paragon,"  had  been  built.  Except  these 
three  steamboats,  there  was  no  other  means  of  steam 
locomotion  in  the  country.  When  we  arrived  at  what 
is  now  called  Jersey  City — then  a  solitary  tavern — 
the  question  was,  how  was  the  river  to  be  crossed? 
There  was  no  bridge,  no  ferryboat,  as  we  now  under 
stand  a  ferryboat,  but  there  was  a  little  schooner 
called  a  Pirogue.  On  this  we  had  to  carry  our 
horses,  carriage,  baggage,  and  ourselves.  The  wind 
was  high,  and  there  were  two  frightened  people — my 
mother  and  myself — but  this  ridiculous  little  craft 
carried  us  safely  across,  and  we  were  landed  in  New 
York.  One  of  the  first  things  my  father  did  in  New 
York  was  to  take  my  mother  and  myself  to  see  the 
little  steamer  "  Paragon."  He  knew  that  the  inven 
tion  of  the  steamboat  was  one  of  the  great  events  in 
the  world's  history,  and,  therefore,  he  wanted  to  see  a 
steamboat.  The  "  Paragon "  lay  aside  one  of  the 
docks,'and  looked  about  the  size  of  a  small  schooner, 
but  with  neither  masts  nor  sails.  She  was  painted 
yellow,  and  her  machinery  and  cabin  were  both  below 
deck.  In  these  days  she  would  be  counted  one  of  the 
tugs  now  used  to  tow  ships  into  New  York  Harbor. 
It  was  twenty  years  after  this,  when  my  father  lived 
at  West  Point,  that  steamboats  began  to  take  the 
form  and  magnitude  they  now  have.  It  was  thirty 
years  after  I  saw  the  "Paragon"  that  the  ocean 
steamers  began  to  cross  the  Atlantic.  The  introduc 
tion  of  steam  as  a  locomotive  power  was  the  most 
important  event  in  the  mechanical  progress  of  the 
last  two  thousand  years.  We  had  in  New  York,  in 
1807,  the  little  beginnings  of  steam  navigation,  and 
now  steamships  and  steamboats  are  in  all,  or  nearly 


Personal  Memories.  41 

all,  the  countries  of  the  world.  This  is  a  revolution 
greater  than  any  previous  generation  had  seen.  The 
crossing  of  the  Jersey  ferry  in  a  schooner  and  the 
seeing  of  the  "  Paragon"  were  striking  events. 

The  active  memories  of  men  are  made  up  of  strong 
impressions.  All  that  we  seem  to  remember  of  our 
youth  are  these  vivid  impressions  of  things  which 
startled  or  surprised  us  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence. 
But,  have  we  really  lost  any  impression  ?  Are  they 
not  all  like  faded  pictures  of  whose  colors  only  the 
bright  ones  seem  to  remain  ?  If  our  souls  survive,  will 
not  every  event,  thought,  and  impression  survive  also 
in  the  ages  to  come?  We  remained  in  New  Haven 
two  or  three  months,  and  on  our  return  passed  through 
Philadelphia.  There,  my  father  took  me  to  the  book 
store  of  Matthew  Carey,  an  old  friend  and  a  noted 
man  in  his  day.  Here,  my  father  gave  me  my  first  li 
brary,  about  twenty  little  volumes.  Of  these,  I  remem 
ber  only  two,  one  was  Mease's  United  States,  and  the 
other  the  u  London  Cries." 

Both  had  plates  and  struck  my  fancy  as  wonderful 
books.  Before  the  warm  season  was  past,  and  while 
the  sun  still  illuminated  the  splendid  forest  scenery, 
we  returned  to  Ohio. 

On  going  East,  my  father  had  given  up  Ludlow 
Station,  and,  on  returning  to  Ohio,  rented  a  house 
called  Bates'  place,  two  miles  nearer  Cincinnati,  and 
now  within  the  city  limits.  In  after  years  it  was 
called  Mt.  Comfort,  b  it  these  names  are  now  forgot 
ten.  We  rented  the  place  of  Colonel  Isaac  Bates,  who 
had  been  a  teamster  in  Wayne's  army.  It  was  a  com 
fortable  two-story  brick  house,  with  a  lawn  and  gar 
den,  and  answered  our  purpose  very  well.  At  this 


42  Personal  Memories. 

time,  our  family  was  not  so  large  as  at  Ludlow  Sta 
tion. 

Totten  had  gone  to  the  army,  John  Mansfield  lived 
in  town,  and,  I  believe,  his  sister,  Mary  Mansfield,  was 
the  only  one  living  with  ns.  She  was  married  while 
living  with  us  at  Bates'  place,  and  became  Mrs.  David 
Wade ;  her  husband  was  a  lawyer  and  prosecuting 
attorney  in  Cincinnati.  Mrs.  Col.  Kennett  and  Mrs. 
Dr.  White  are  her  daughters.  She  took  considerable 
care  of  me,  and  even  now  I  seem  to  hear  her  sweet 
voice  singing  "  Highland  Mary."  She  died  some  years 
after  this,  when  I  was  in  the  East.  She  was  one  of 
the  first  of  those — now  many — whose  name  and  mem 
ory  come  to  me  from  the  spirit  land. 

We  were  established  at  Bates'  place  in  1809,  in  the 
autumn,  and  remained  there  three  years.  It  was  an 
eventful  period  to  me,  a*  id  a  remarkable  one  in  the 
history  of  the  Western  country.  I  was  then  eight 
years  old,  and  this  is  the  first  period  at  which  I  can 
remember  receiving  anything  that  can  be  called  edu 
cation.  In  1810,  in  the  spring,  my  father  gave  me  a 
slate  and  pencil,  and  taught  me  the  elementary  rules 
of  arithmetic.  My  mother  had  taught  me  to  read, 
and  the  first  line  I  ever  read  was  in  Webster's  spelling 
book,  and  was:  "is"o  man  may  put  off  the  law  of 
God."  My  particular  admiration  in  the  spelling-book 
was  the  picture  of  the  man  who  pretended  to  be  dead 
when  the  bear  smelled  him,  and  the  old  man  who 
called  the  boys  down  from  the  apple-tree,  and  when 
they  laughed  at  him  for  throwing  grass,  pelted  them 
with  stones.  There  was  one  thing  my  mother  was 
very  particular  about  and  the  effect  of  her  care  re 
mains  to-day,  this  was  spelling.  She  drilled  me  in 


Personal  Memories.  43 

that,  and,  I  believe,  I  have  never  misspelled  a  word 
through  ignorance.  I  give  a  little  incident  in  regard 
to  this  fact,  characteristic  of  the  day.  It  was  in  1811, 
that  I  received  two  quarters'  schooling — all  that  I  re 
ceived  prior  to  1813.  It  was  in  a  log  school  house, 
nearly  opposite  the  House  of  Refuge  ;  at  the  close  of 
the  quarter  in  July,  there  was  a  spelling  battle,  in 
which  I  came  off  head  of  the  school.  We  were  then 
formed  in  a  column  and  marched  to  a  tavern  near  the 
present  House  of  Refuge ;  there,  the  schoolmaster 
treated  us  to  cherry  bounce;  it  was  very  strong  and 
made  my  head  reel,  but  my  mother,  I  think,  never 
knew  anything  of  this,  and,  I  may  add,  would  assuredly 
disapproved  of  it  if  she  had.  It  was  in  1810,  that  I  read 
the  first  book  I  can  remember,  besides  my  school  books. 
This  was  a  sort  of  pamphlet  Life  of  Napoleon  Bona 
parte ;  it  closed  with  the  battle  of  Wagram,  fought 
in  1809.  I  was  enamored  with  this  book,  and  fired 
with  military  fervor,  which  lasted  for  several  years. 
I  have  already  mentioned  the  books  my  father  bought 
for  me  at  Matthew  Carey's,  and  that  one  of  them  was 
called  "  The  London  Cries,"  and,  I  believe,  no  book 
pleased  me  better  than  that  ;  it  had  much  better  pa 
per,  print,  and  plates,  than  children's  books  have  now- 
a-days.  Each  "cry,'7  for  example,  as  "Hot  Buns," 
had  a  good  wood-cut,  and  I  delighted  in  it.  Another 
book  was  "Mease's  United  States;"  this  also  had 
wood-cuts,  among  them  one  of  the  "  Bridge  over  the 
Delaware"— in  those  days  considered  a  fine  affair; 
one  also  of  the  Indians  hunting  Bison,  and  one  of  the 
Natural  Bridge  in  Virginia.  All  these  struck  my 
fancy,  and  books  of  this  kind  are  the  right  sort  for 
boys. 


44  Personal  Memories. 

Before  our  return  to  the  East,  my  stock  of  reading 
was,  however,  small.  Oar  life  at  Bates'  place  was 
quiet,  but  several  incidents,  new  and  striking  to  a  boy, 
occurred.  I  had  my  hens,  ducks,  and  quail-traps,  and 
made  many  observations  on  nature.  My  two  quarters 
at  the  log  school  house  did  something  towards  break 
ing  up  the  loneliness  of  my  life.  I  saw  several  things 
which  can  not  be  seen  except  in  a  pioneer  region. 
Looking,  from  our  house,  down  the  Hamilton  Road 
to  Cincinnati,  I  saw  a  herd  of  deer,  apparently  driven 
up  the  ro^  by  a  hunter  and  dog.  They  came  along 
very  quietly,  until  a  white-topped  wagon  passed  our 
house,  when,  they  started  and  fled,  jumping  the  high 
est  fences.  The  hunter  dropped  his  rifle  to  his  shoul 
der,  and  killed  a  fat  buck  opposite  our  house.  An 
other  day,  I  saw  a  singular  sight.  This  was  a  vast 
army  of  squirrels,  gathered,  probably  from  want  of 
food,  in  a  large  corn  field  below  the  house.  They 
covered  the  fences  in  every  direction,  devoured  the  corn, 
and  disappeared.  At  another  time  in  a  meadow  below, 
I  saw  that  curious  phenomenon,  the  army  worm.  There 
were  millions  of  them,  and  they  moved  in  a  line 
across  the  breadth  of  the  field  and  cut  down  every 
blade  of  grass.  The  farmers  destroyed  them,  by  go 
ing  a  considerable  distance  ahead,  and,  with  spades 
and  hoes,  digging  a  trench,  into  which  they  fell  and 
could  not  get  out.  From  these  incidents,  the  reader 
will  see  how  very  different  the  scenes  of  country  life 
were  then,  from  what  they  are  now.  We  were  really 
on  the  frontier,  my  father  and  his  surveyors J  being  in 
the  wilderness  where  is  now  the  most  populous  por 
tion  of  Indiana. 

My    father's   business    varied    little,    although    the 


Personal  Memories.  45 

scenes  of  house  and  family  had  changed  much.  He 
was  pursuing  intently  the  business  he  was  employed 
to  do.  His  surveyors  were  out  through  Northwest 
ern  Ohio  and  Indiana,  while  he,  himself,  was  record 
ing  the  work,  and  making  astronomical  observations. 
In  the  midst  of  this  work  an  event  occurred  which 
\vas  memorable  then,  and  hardly  less  so  now.  On 
the  night  of  the  16th  of  December,  1811,** Cousin 
Mary  and  I  were  waked  up  by  a  rattling  which  we 
supposed  to  be  rats,  but  which  proved  to  be  the 
handles  of  a  trunk.  In  a  moment  we  found  the  room 
was  shaking,  and  sprang  up  frightened.  Then  we 
heard  my  father's  voice  calling  us.  We  rushed  down 
stairs,  and,  with  the  whole  family,  ran  into  the  yard. 
While  we  ran  out  the  bricks  were  falling  from  the 
roof  of  the  house,  the  chimney  having  been  shaken 
down.  There  was  a  light  snow  on  the  ground,  and 
a  carriage  in  the  yard.  My  mother  and  little  sister 
took  refuge  in  the  carriage,  and  my  father  went  back 
to  the  house,  saying  there  was  more  danger  of  rheu 
matism  than  of  the  house  falling.  In  Cincinnati,  the 
Columbian  Inn,  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Columbia 
streets,  was  the  principal  house  of  entertainment, 
where  some  of  the  first  young  men  and  ladies 
boarded.  It  is  said,  that  on  that  night  the  street  in 
front  of  the  Columbian  Inn  presented  a  strong  con 
trast  to  all  the  ordinary  rules  of  propriety;  in  fact, 
there  was  more  of  nature  displayed  than  of  fashion. 
The  presence  of  a  great  danger  breaks  down  all  con 
ventional  rules,  and  perhaps  there  is  nothing  better 
than  a  great  danger  to  show  what  an  artificial  thing 
is  civilized  life.  A  great  danger  is  the  preaching  of  a 
great  sermon.  The  earthquake  of  December  16,  1811, 


46  Personal  Memories. 

was  the  first  of  a  series  of  earthquakes,  which  con 
tinued  about  five  months.  My  father,  in  order  to  test 
the  state  of  things,  put  a  very  delicate  pendulum  in 
side  of  one  of  our  front  windows,  and  that  pendulum 
never  ceased  to  vibrate  in  nearly  five  months.  In  the 
meanwhile  there  were,  in  January  and  February,  sev 
eral  violent  shocks.  It  was  May,  1812,  before  these 
earthquakes  really  ceased.  The  center  of  them  was, 
I  think,  at  Caraccas,  South  America.  A  peculiarity 
attended  them  which  has,  perhaps,  not  followed 
other  earthquakes.  They  seem  to  have  had  not 
only  a  center,  hut  an  axis,  which  caused  a  reac 
tion  or  agitation  at  a  great  distance.  The  center  of 
the  agitation  in  the  Mississippi  valley  was  at,  or  near, 
New  Madrid,  Missouri.  There  the  Mississippi  over 
flowed,  the  earth  was  broken  up  in  some  places,  and 
small  lakes  formed,  which  are  there  to  this  day. 
Some  years  since  I  happened  to  meet  a  gentleman 
who,  at  the  time  of  the  earthquake,  was  on  the  Aiis- 
sissippi  in  a  keelboat.  He  described  the  fearful  rush 
ing  and  high  waves  of  the  river. 

The  marks  of  that  fearful  catastrophe  remain  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  When  we  remember  what 
great  and  sudden  changes  were  thus  made  in  a  brief 
time,  it  surprises  us  to  hear  geologists  talk  of  the  ages 
on  ages  which,  in  their  imagination,  it  took  to  pro 
duce  certain  changes. 

At  our  house  the  earthquake  gave  rise  to  a  sort  of 
new  life.  Our  family  was,  of  course,  much  alarmed, 
and  some  of  the  gentlemen  in  town  would  ride  out 
and  spend  the  night  with  us.  In  this  way  we  saw  a 
good  deal  of  company,  and  hud,  in  some  respects,  a 
pleasant  time.  Among  those  who  came  was  Colonel 


Personal  Memories.  47 

McKenua,  who  was,  I  think,  the  same  man  that 
thirty  years  ago  was  united  with  Judge  Ifiill  in  pre 
paring  an  Indian  biography,  a  very  valuable  work. 
McKenna  had  been  much  among  the  Indians,  and  re 
lated  many  talcs  and  anecdotes  of  them.  So,  by  way 
of  cheering  us  and  amusing  our  minds,  he  told  us  the 
most  awful  stories  of  Indian  fights  and  massacres. 
There  must  have  been  some  truth  in  his  narratives, 
for  he  showed  us  his  wrist  and  arm,  which  had  been 
injured  by  bullets  in  an  Indian  fight.  According  to 
him,  "  Othello  "  himself  had  not  met  with  so  many 
hair-breadth  escapes,  and  the  romance  of  history  did 
not  contain  such  a  romance  of  the  border  war  with 
the  Indians.  There  are,  indeed,  several  books  of  anec 
dotes  and  of  pioneer  life  which  are  full  of  adventures 
with  and  escapes  from  the  Indians. 

In  this  manner  the  winter  passed.  Severe  shocks 
of  earthquake  occurred  frequently.  I  remember  one 
happening  in  the  morning,  when  I  was  at  a  neighbor 
ing  log-house.  There  was  corn  on  the  upper  floor,  and 
I  heard  that  corn  roll  from  one  side  of  the  house  to  the 
other.  As  I  have  said,  these  shocks  did  not  cease  until 
May.  At  that  time  we  were  preparing  to  go  to  the  East, 
and  the  government  making  ready  its  troops  for  the 
march  on  Canada.  Among  the  troops  who  went  was 
the  then  famous  Fourth  Regiment  of  infantry,  which, 
at  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe,  had  made  the  chief  part 
of  the  army.  The  last  scene  I  recall  at  Bates'  place, 
was  the  Fourth  Regiment  marching  by  our  house  on 
a  bright  May  morning.  All  then  seemed  hopeful  and 
bright;  but  nothing  could  have  exceeded  the  sense  of 
shame  and  disgrace  felt  in  the  country  when  that  gal 
lant  regiment  was,  with  Hull's  army,  surrendered  to 
the  British. 


48  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Journey  to  the  East — The  Wagoners — The  Women,  of 
Stonington — Capture  of  the  Macedonian — New  Ha 
ven  —  Bishop  — Dr.  Dwight — Noah  Webster  —  Cap 
tain  Powell — Libraries — My  Studies — West  Point — 
J\!o  Text-Books — Cheshire  Teaching — Governor  Foote. 

MY  father  had  now  fulfilled  his  office  as  surveyor- 
general,  and  was  about  to  return  to  West  Point,  as 
professor  of  philosophy  and  astronomy.  In  the  be 
ginning  of  1812,  Congress  had  reorganized  the  mili 
tary  academy,  as  a  preparation  for  war.  The  pro 
fessorship  of  philosophy  and  astronomy  was  given  the 
rank  and  pay  of  a  lieutenant-colonel,  in  accordance 
with  the  rank  my  father  then  held  in  the  engineer 
corps.  We  began  our  journey  to  West  Point  in  the 
beginning  of  June.  No  declaration  of  war  had  then 
been  made,  but  troops  were  assembling  and  marching 
to  the  northern  frontier.  One  day  we  stopped  at  Dr. 
Drake's  house,  on  our  way  east.  It  was  a  memorable 
day  in  Cincinnati,  for  on  that  day  occurred -the  severest 
tornado  I  have  ever  experienced.  It  blew  down  a  new 
brick  school-house  and  some  smaller  buildings.  I  was 
looking  out  of  a  window  when  I  saw  the  roof  of  the 
Sargent  house  blown  oft'  like  a  piece  of  paper.  This 
house  stood  near  the  center  of  the  square,  north  of 
Fourth  street,  and  east  of  Broadway,  on  what  is  now 
called  McAllester  street.  It  was,  as  far  as  I  can  recol 
lect,  the  only  house  standing  in  that  part  of  the  city  at 


Personal  Memories.  49 

that  time.     We  left  Dr.  Drake's  next  day,  and  in  tra 
versing  the  country  found  large  oak  trees  torn  up  by 
the  roots,  and  thrown  across  the  roads.     Here  I  may 
mention,  as  a  characteristic  of  the  times,  our  prepara 
tions  for  this  j  ourncy.    There  was  then  no  stage  or  public 
conveyance  west  of  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania.     It  would 
have  taken  a  long  time,  and  have  been  a  tedious  jour 
ney,  even  had  it  been  possible  to  go  up  the  river  by 
keel-boats.     So  my  father  was  compelled  to  buy  his 
own  carriage  and  horses,  take  a  driver,  and  go  on 
the     wagon-roads.      He     put     in     the     carriage-box 
pistols,    ax,    and    ropes,   for   they  might    have  been 
needed  at  any  time.     We  journeyed  in  the  midst  of 
the  war  excitement,  and  were  ahead  of  the  mails,  so 
that  at  every  village  we  were  questioned  about  the  news. 
I  remember  that-when  we  arrived  at  Chambersburg, 
Pennsylvania,  a  small  crowd  gathered  about  the  tavern 
to  hear  the  news.     I  went  out  and  told  them  about  the 
battle  of  Tippecanoe,  of  the  march  of  Hull's  army,  and 
our  certain  conquest  of  Canada.     In  fine,  I  was  a  poli 
tical  orator,  and  had  I  kept  on  in  that  line,  who  can 
tell  to  what  eminence  I  might  have  arrived.     In  fact 
our  arrival  at  Chambersburg  created  a  sensation,  and 
we  passed  along  with  something  of  the  eclat  of  a  cara 
van.     I  remember  little  else  until  we  crossed  the  Swa- 
tara,  a  large  stream  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania.     There 
had  been  heavy  rains,  and  the  river  was  high,  but  I 
was  riding  a  fine  horse,  and  plunged  in  the  water,  to 
the  great  consternation  of  my  father,  who  was  in  the 
carriage.     However,  I,  as  well  as  the  carriage,  crossed 
the  river  in  safety.     I  must  here  state  a  fact,  which 
will  illustrate  the  changes  in  the  mode  of  traveling 
and  the  condition  of  the  country.     At  that  time  the 


50  Personal  Memories. 

only  tolerable  roads  were  the  Pennsylvania  turnpikes, 
and  we  went  over  one  of  these  from  Pittsburg  east. 
This  was  the  great  highway  of  the  Philadelphia 
wagons,  which  carried  all  the  merchandise  from 
Philadelphia  west.  These  wagons  were  called  the 
"  Connestoga  Teams."  They  had  long  bodies,  covered 
with  sail-cloth,  stretched  on  hoops,  and  carried  two  or 
three  tons  each.  They  were  drawn  by  six  horses,  of  the 
strongest  and  largest  breed.  The  front  pair  had  bells 
on  their  necks,  and  the  wagoners  who  drove  them  had 
great  pride  in  their  teams.  Reade  has  described  these 
men  in  his  "  "Wild  Wagoner  of  the  Allcghenies."  He 
was  describing  that  wagoner  as  far  superior  and  bolder 
than  most  of  them,  yet  the  scenes  he  represented  did 
often  occur. 

"  On  many  a  dangerous  mountain  track, 
While  oft  the-  tempest  burst  its  wrack, 
While  1  ghtning,  like  his  mad  whip  lash, 
Whistled  round  the  team  its  crooked  flash, 
And  horses  scared  in  fiery  flight, 
While  near  them  burst  the  thunder  crash, 
Then  heard  the  gale  his  voice  of  might. 

"  And  oft  on  many  a  wintry  hill, 
He  dashed  from  out  the  vale  below, 
And  headed  his  way  through  drifts  of  snow, 
While  all  his  wheels  with  voices  shriek, 
Shrieked  to  the  frosty  air  afar." 

"While  these  men  were  very  useful  in  their  day,  they 
were  at  times  very  disagreeable.  Quite  naturally  they 
were  jealous  of  carriages,  and  gentlemen  whom  they 
thought  assumed  to  be  above  them.  On  two  occasions, 
when  we  were  stopping  for  the  night,  they  took  the 
lynch-pins  fromour  carriage,  and  we  might  have  had  a 


Personal  Memories.  51 

severe  accident,  but  for  a  gentleman  who  was  riding  on 
horseback  with  us.  Another  thing  in  the  then  mode 
of  traveling  was  as  peculiar  as  the  Connestoga  wagons. 
That  was  the  "  tavern,"  as  it  was  then  called,  which 
was  found  at  certain  stations,  which  the  traveler  was 
obliged  to  reach  at  certain  hours,  or  else  his  accommo 
dation  was  very  poor.  These  taverns  had  special 
names,  such  as  "  The  Black  Horse/'  and  "  The  General 
Wayne,"  "The  Ship,"  "The  Paoli,"  etc.,  and  were 
noted  throughout  the  country.  Come  what  might,  it 
was  necessary  for  a  traveler,  in  a  private  carriage,  to 
reach  one  of  these  places  at  night,  for  it  was  hardly 
safe,  much  less  comfortable,  to  lodge  elsewhere.  So 
even  though  we  rode  late  into  the  evening,  my  father 
managed  to  reach  one  of  these  taverns  at  night.  I 
need  not  say  more  of  this  journey.  It  took  us  thirty 
days,  traveling  in  our  own  carriage,  from  Cincinnati 
to  New  Haven,  where  we  arrived  in  July,  1812.  The 
war  had  then  begun,  and  the  United  States  coasts, 
especially  seaports,  were  lined  with  British  cruisers. 
My  father  was  then  an  officer  of  engineers,  and  was 
detained  by  the  government,  at  New  Haven,  on  military 
service,  and  subsequently  by  severe  illness.  In  order 
not  to  interrupt  the  narrative,  I  will  here  state  what 
relates  to  our  residence  in  New  Haven.  My  father 
was  ordered  to  New  London  and  Stonington  to  super 
intend  fortifications.  For  some  inscrutable  reason,  cer 
tainly  not  a  military  one,  the  British  had  an  inclina 
tion  to  attack  these  places.  Had  they  taken  and  re 
tained  both,  it  would  have  been  of  no  military  use. 
Accordingly  the  British  squadron,  of  which  the  frigate 
Macedonian  was  one,  attacked  Stonington  by  bombard 
ing  it,  and  that  gave  rise  to  a  story,  which  was  one  of 


52  Personal  Memories. 

the  historical  incidents  of  that  day.  On  shore,  at  Ston- 
ington,  three  or  four  pieces  of  artillery  returned  the 
British  fire ;  as  the  local  militia  were  extemporized  for 
the  occasion,  they  were  not  well  provided  with  am 
munition,  so,  after  firing  awhile,  they  were  out  of  wad 
ding  for  the  guns.  At  this  point  a  Stonington  woman 
deliberately  took  offher  petticoats,  to  make  wadding  for 
the  guns  !  It  was  not  long  after  this  that  the  British 
cruiser  Macedonian  was  captured  by  the  frigate  United 
States,  and  in  New  Haven  we  had  the  pleasure  of  hear 
ing  the  band  of 'the  Macedonian,  giving  us  fine  music, 
as  prisoners  of  war.  On  my  father's  return  from  New 
London,  we  moved  into  a  house  in  New  Haven,  on  the 
square  where  I  had  been  born,  directly  opposite  the 
present  railroad  depot.  It  was  on  the  southeast  corner 
of  State  and  Chapel  streets,  New  Haven.  The  house  was 
probably  built  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago.  The 
front  door  and  windows  were  carved  and  ornamented  as 
no  woodwork  is  nowadays.  The  window-panes  were 
diamond-shaped,  set  in  with  lead.  The  present  style 
of  architecture  tends  to  more  simplicity  of  ornament, 
but  the  taste  of  the  day  is  toward  extravagance  in 
furniture.  Of  the  two,  the  old  style  was  the  best. 
Few  things  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  make  a  house 
a  storeroom  for  furniture,  which  adds  nothing  to  real 
comfort  and  is  a  positive  extravagance.  If  the  simple 
Greek  architecture  were  adopted  on  the  one  hand, 
and  handsome  but  simple  furniture  in  the  interior,  it 
would  be  more  consistent  with  common  sense  than 
either  the  customs  of  our  ancestors  or  ourselves.  But 
the  world  is  given  to  fashion  and  is  slow  to  learn.  In 
the  autumn  of  1812  we  moved  into  our  house,  on  the 
old  Mansfield  square,  and  remained  there  for  nearly 


Personal  Memories.  53 

two  years.  In  the  meanwhile  my  father  was  visited 
by  several  distinguished  men,  and  events  happened 
which  may  be  interesting  to  record.  In  1812-1813, 
politics  were  much  the  same  as  regards  human  nature 
as  to-day.  The  post-office  in  New  Haven  became  va 
cant,  and  as  my  father  was  known  to  be  in  the  confi 
dence  of  the  administration,  his  influence  was  sought 

'  O 

by  all  the  applicants.  He  at  last  recommended  Jones, 
and  Jones  was  appointed.  During  my  father's  illness, 
Abraham  Bishop,  collector  of  New  Haven,  called  upon 
him.  I  think  he  was  the  very  man  to  whom  Jefferson 
addressed  his  celebrated  letter  on  appointments ;  at 
least  he  was  the  occasion  of  it.  Jefferson  had  ap 
pointed  some  Democrats  to  office ;  among  others, 
Bishop.  The  Federalists  complained  about  removals. 
Jefferson  replied  in  a  short  letter,  stating  his  reason 
for  removals :  "  That  of  Federal  officers,  few  die,  and 
none  resign."  In  these  days  it  would  be  unnecessary 
to  give  any  reason,  for  rotation  in  office  has  become 
an  established  principle  of  all  political  parties.  Bishop 
was  in  some  respects  a  remarkable  man.  He  was  a 
man  to  suit  Jefferson,  for  he  was  a  free-thinker  of  the 
most  liberal  school,  and  so  were  many  of  the  men 
whom  Jefferson  brought  into  office.  Bishop  had  fine 
talents  of  a  certain  order.  He  was  a  wit  and  an  ora 
tor.  My  mother  considered  him  the  best  speaker  of 
that  time.  His  wit  was  sharp  and  fine  compared  with 
the  coarse  humor  now  so  common.  I  remember  one" 
of  his  witticisms  which  had  a  good  deal  of  point. 
Noah  Webster's  garden  joined  that  of  my  grandfather. 
Noah  "Webster  was  not  only  the  author  of  the  first 
spelling-book  I  studied,  but  of  the  great  dictionary 
which  all  have  learned  to  reverence ;  in  other  words, 


54  Personal  Memories. 


Noah  Webster  was  a  learned  man.  Bishop,  who  had 
great  respect  for  him,  said  :  "  Noah  Webster's  head  is 
like  a  vandue  master's  (auctioneer's)  shop — full  of  other 
men's  goods."  Another  man  who  called  on  my  father 
in  his  sickness  at  New  Haven  has  since  been  world- 
renowned.  This  was  the  celebrated  Dr.  Dwight,  Pres 
ident  of  Yale  College.  Few  men  had  more  talent  or 
used  it  better  than  Timothy  Dwight,  He  was  tutor, 
professor,  and  president  of  Yale  College  for  many 
years,  and  impressed  himself  wonderfully  upon  the 
students.  While  president  of  the  College  he  made  tho, 
tour  of  New  England,  and  published  his  observations 
in  a  book  of  travels.  It  was  full  -  of  acute  comments 
on  the  customs  and  institutions  of  our  country.  In 
that  book  he  was,  I  think,  the  first  to  remark  what 
De  Tocqueville  subsequently  put  in  his  book,  that  the 
townships  of  New  England,  or,  in  other  words,  its 
rural  municipalities,  were  the  schools  in  which  our 
American  people  had  learned  the  true  principles  of 
self-government.  It  was  in  this  school  of  political 
self-instruction  they  had  learned  to  conduct  safely  and 
intelligently  the  government  of  the  republic.  While 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  Yale  College,  Dr.  Dwight  de 
livered  the  course  of  sermons  which  he  afterward  em 
bodied  in  his  system  of  theology,  and  which  continues, 
both  in  Europe  and  America,  to  be  a  standard  work 
in  the  school  of  Calvinistic  divinity.  It  is  the  most 
complete  work  of  popular  theology  now  extant.  I 
have  read  a  large  part  of  it,  and  was  delighted  with  it 
considered  only  as  a  literary  work.  I  never  heard  Dr. 
Dwight  preach,  but  my  mother  said  he  was  the  best 
preacher  she  had  ever  heard.  I  recollect  well  Dr. 
D wight's  appearance  when  he  sat  and  talked  with  my 


Personal  Memories.  55 

father.  He  was  a  man  of  medium  height,  with  a  full 
rotund  body,  dark  hair  and  eyes,  wearing — as  was 
then  the  custom — the  hair  combed  hack  in  a  queue 
behind.  He  was  dressed  entirely  in  black,  and  had  a 
very  dignified  appearance.  In  fact,  Dr.  D  wight, 
though  not  of  commanding  height,  was  of  command- 
jng ..appearance.  I  should  judge  from  his  conversation 
with  my  father  that  he  was — and  such  was  his  charac 
ter — a  genial  and  pleasant  man.  He  and  my  father 
were  in  politics  and  theology  of  opposite  opinions,  but 
were  on  that  account  none  the  less  friendly.  The  re 
public  of  letters  and  of  science  is  the  only  free  republic 
—the  only  one  where  men  are  measured  by  their  meiv 
its.  Another  man  who  called  at  our  house  during  that 
time  was  the  very  opposite  of  Dr.  D  wight.  Probably 
the  reader  has  never  heard  of  him,  but  he  was  a  char 
acter  worth  mentioning.  He  was  an  Englishman  and 
an  auctioneer,  called  Captain  Powell.  I  have  reason 
to  remember  him,  as  I  do,  with  kindness  and  respect ; 
for  he  lent  me  books  which  I  could  not  have  obtained 
elsewhere,  and  which  ministered  both  to  my  informa 
tion  and  my  love  of  reading.  One  of  these  books  was 
the  "  Gentleman's  Magazine,"  which  I  pored  over  with 
more  avidity  than  I  have  since  done  over  the  most  im 
portant  and  interesting  works.  I  said  he  was  the  op 
posite  of  Dr.  D  wight.  He  was  a  free  and  easy  liver, 
took  snuff,  and  most  unfortunately  was  quite  intem 
perate.  The  habit  of  intemperance  at  last  brought 
him  to  the  poor-house,  but  not  to  that  degradation, 
either  of  position  or  character,  which  now  attends  the 
inmates  of  poor-houses.  He  had  been  the  associate 
of  gentlemen,  and  continued  to  be  so  when  in  the 
poor-house.  Mr.  Bishop  and  other  gentlemen  used  to 


56  Personal  Memories. 

supply  Mm  with  the  best  of  clothes,  and  he  went 
round  visiting  as  he  pleased.  It  happened  that  while 
he  was  in  the  poor-house,  the  descendants  of  some  of 
the  first  merchants  of  New  Haven  were  also  there. 
Captain  Powell  was  asked  if  he  did  not  feel  the 
want  of  society.  "Oh!  no,"  he  replied.  "I  enjoy 
there  the  society  of  the  best  families  of  New  Ha 
ven."  Many  years  after,  my  mother  and  I  were,  at 
the  time  of  my  father's  death,  at  the  Tontine  Coffee 
house,  New  Haven.  Captain  Powell  called  on  my 
mother.  He  was  well  dressed,  and  took  snuff  as  usual. 
My  mother  was  about  to  go  out  in  a  carriage,  and 
Captain  Powell  gracefully  handed  her  in ;  then  he 
bowed  low,  and  said :  "  Madam,  we  must  not  forget 
our  politeness,  though  we  are  in  the  poor-house."  I 
always  thought  it  one  of  the  finest  sayings  I  ever 
heard.  I  think  of  Captain  Powell  as  Johnson  did  of 
some  of  his  London  companions,  whose  names  would 
never  have  been  heard  of  but  for  Johnson — as  of  those 
who  have  contributed  to  the  common  stock  of  harmless 
amusements.  To  me  he  furnished  more  than  amusement. 
He  lent  me  books  which  excited  my  literary  taste,  and 
helped  to  form  the  habit  of  reading  and  study  which 
has  been  the  comfort  and  solace  of  my  life.  If  you 
would  see  this  idea  expressed  as  I  feel  it,  but  far  more 
truthfully  than  any  modern  author  has  given  it,  look 
to  this  paragraph  of  Cicero's  oration  for  the  poet 
Archias  : 

"At  haec  studia  adolescentiarm  alunt,  senectutcin 
oblectant,  secundas  res  ornant,  adversis  perfugium  ac 
solacium  praebent;  delectant  domi,  nou  impecliunt 
foris,  pernoctant  nobiscum,  peregrinantur,  rusticantur." 
— These  studies  employ  youth,  delight  old  age,  adorn 


Personal  Memories.  57 

prosperity,  afford  a  refuge  and  a  solace  in  adversity ; 
please  at  home,  do  not  impede  in  the  fornm,  go  with 
us  through  the  night — travel  with  us,  and  are  with  us 
in  the  country !  Such  are  the  pleasures  of  literature, 
portrayed  hy  the  most  eminent  of  its  disciples. 

In  New  Haven,  I  had  some  literary  advantages, 
which  for  a  hoy  were  uncommon.  My  father's  cousin, 
Colonel  Lyon,  who  was  cashier  of  a  hank,  had  a  liter 
ary  and  antiquarian  taste.  He  had  a  large  and  rare 
library,  and  lent  me  books  to  read.  ~No  one  directed 
my  reading,  and  the  books  I  selected  were  certainly 
curious  for  a  boy.  I  looked  over  the  "Politicus  Mer- 
curius"  published  in  Cromwell's  time ;  read  some  of 
Rapin's  History  of  England,  and  the  "  Life  and  Cam 
paigns  of  Frederick  the  Great."  I  had  also  access  to 
the  New  Haven  library,  and  from  that  procured  sev 
eral  books  of  modern  literature.  In  fact,  my  tastes 
then,  as  they  have  been  ever  since,  were  decidedly  of 
a  literary  turn.  In  New  Haven,  as  I  believe  I  have 
mentioned,  I  had  two  quarters'  schooling,  one  in  what 
would  now  be  called  a  common  school,  and  the  other 
in  a  select  classical  school.  In  the  first  school  I  learned 
nothing,  unless  it  were  to  draw  ships  and  pictures  on 
a  slate.  In  the  second  I  learned  considerable  Latin, 
and  became  acquainted  with  the  nicest  boys  in  New 
Haven.  One  of  them  was  Theodore  Wolsey,  afterward 
President  of  Yale  College ;  another  was  Alexander 
Twining,  afterward  a  distinguished  engineer  ;  another 
Henry  White,  a  lawyer,  and  most  excellent  man. 
Thus  my  two  years'  residence  in  New  Haven  became 
a  very  important  period  of  my  educational  life.  My 
taste  for  reading  was  aequired.  The  books  I  read 
were  instructive,  and  I  first  learned  to  think.  In  the 


58  Personal  Memories. 

spring  of  1814,  my  father  had  recovered  from  his  se 
vere  illness,  and  his  military  duties  in  Connecticut  were 
over.     He  therefore  proceeded  to  West  Point  to  enter 
upon  his  duties  as  professor  of  natural  and  experi 
mental  philosophy.     I  have  already  said  that  in  1812 
Congress  had  reconstructed  the  military  academy,  and 
instituted  this  professorship  for  my  father.     Accord 
ingly  we  went  to  West  Point.    But  how?    In  a  steam 
boat,  rail  car,  or  stage  ?     In  neither ;  but  in  a  sloop. 
Family  and  furniture  were  all  embarked  in  a  sloop  at 
New  Haven,  and  proceeded  down  the  sound  and  up  the 
Hudson.     There  were  at  that  time  only  two  or  three 
steamboats  on  the  Hudson,  and  they  were  very  ex 
pensive.      Sloops    and    schooners   were  the   common 
means  of  conveyance  in  those  days,  and  my  father 
chartered  a  sloop  for  that  purpose.     The  weather  was 
fine,  but,  unfortunately  for  sailing  vessels,  calm;  so 
that  we  were  three  or  four  days  in  going  from  New 
Haven  to  West  Point,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles.    Five  hours  is  now  the  time  of  easy  transit 
between  those  points.    I  well  remember  how  impatient 
I  was  when  the  sloop  barely  moved  through  the  water, 
and  I  looked  upon  the  palisades,  which,  like  the  Giant's 
Causeway  of  Ireland,  form  one  of  the  curiosities  of  the 
geological  world.     They  are  granite  columns,  looking 
as  though  artificially  put  up.    Young  America  did  not 
know  that  there  was  a  time  coming  when  the  most 
vivid  imagination  of  what  he  wished  and  what  was  de 
sirable  would  come  to  pass.    So  he  was  very  impatient, 
and  had  a  right  to  be ;  for  he  could  have  walked  from 
New  York  to  West  Point  in  less  time  than  it  took  that 
sloop  to  go  there.      When  we  arrived,  there  was  a 
curious  exhibition  of  red  tape  and  of  human  nature. 


Personal  Memories.  59 


At  a  military  post,  quarters  must  be  assigned  with 
exact  reference  to  the  officer's  rank.  There  were  not 
a  sufficient  number  of  houses  at  West  Point  for  the 
professors  and  officers,  so  my  father  was  assigned  half 
of  a  large  double  house,  which  he  had  had  twelve  years 
before,  but  which  was  now  occupied  1^7  Surgeon  Walsh. 
The  consequence  was,  that  on  the  arrival  of  my  father, 
that  gentleman  was  in  a  violent  rage,  because  he  had 
to  give  up  half  the  house.  War  was  declared,  but 
there  was  no  help  for  the  affair,  and  Walsh  had  too 
much  sense  to  perpetuate  the  squabble.  In  fact,  the 
storm  ended  in  a  quiet,  peaceful  friendship  between 
the  families.  It  seemed  like  realizing  the  Irish  saying, 
that  the  best  way  to  make  friends  is  a  knock-down 
fight;  but  I  should  not  recommend  a  quarrel  as  the 
best  way  of  forming  a  permanent  friendship.  It  was 
in  this  old  yellow  house,  looking  up  the  Hudson,  which 
he  had  occupied  in  1802,  and  now  again  in  1814,  that 
my  father  taught  the  first  class  in  philosophy  and  me 
chanics  which  was  ever  taught  at  West  Point.  This 
class  consisted  of  five  young  men,  who  recited  in  our 
parlor,  because  there  was  at  that  time  no  suitable  reci 
tation  room  for  them,  and  whose  text-book  was  En- 
field's  Philosophy.  Here  I  will  say  that  the  first  great 
difficulty  encountered  at  West  Point  was  the  lack  of 
proper  text-books.  In  the  pursuit  of  these  by  the 
professors  at  West  Point,  has  been  gradually  brought 
out  that  immense  series  of  text-books  which  now  make 
so  large  and-  profitable  a  publication  business  in  this 
country.  Except  Noah  Webster  and  his  spelling-book, 
the  most  successful  writer  of  scientific  text-books  was 
Professor  Charles  Davics,  of  West  Point,  who  began 
his  mathematical  series  more  than  forty  years  ago. 


60  Personal  Memories. 


At  that  time  there  was  not  in  the  United  States  a  sin 
gle  good  text-book  on  algebra,  geometry,  or  descriptive 
geometry,  mneh  less  on  mechanics  and  philosophy.  In 
one  word,  the  United  States,  being  a  new  country  and 
a  new  nation,  had  none  of  those  routine  methods  and 
facilities  which  are  in  an  old  country  the  result  of 
time,  and  which  have  since  been  developed  in  the 
United  States.  I  may  say  further,  that  the  English 
had  really  no  good  text-books,  but  the  models  for  these 
were  furnished  by  the  French.  The  half  century  which 
is  just  passed  has  been  fertile,  not  merely  in  the  meth 
ods  of  steam  locomotion,  but  also  in  all  those  expedi 
ents  of  civilization,  which  are  not  so  great  and  impor 
tant  in  themselves  as  in  the  fact  that  they  are  evidences 
of  the  ingenuity  and  fertility  of  man  in  devising 
schemes  for  his  own  accommodation. 

Here  I  will  re  vert  to  an  episode  in  my  own  life.  While 
my  father  was  beginning  his  professional  career  at 
West  Point,  I  was  sent  to  an  Episcopal  academy  at 
Cheshire,  Connecticut.  The  purpose  was  that  I  should 
learn  Latin,  preparatory  to  entering  college.  My  brief 
stay  at  Cheshire  can  soon  be  told,  and  it  is  of  no  espec 
ial  importance,  save  in  tracing  out  my  own  life.  My 
father  introduced  me  to  Squire  Beach,  who  was  his 
cousin  on  his  mother's  side.  One  of  her  brothers  was 
rector  of  St.  Paul's  church,  New  York,  and  my  father's 
family  were  Episcopalians.  The  principal  of  the  acad 
emy  at  Cheshire  was  Dr.  Bronson,  and  I  boarded  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Cromwell,  another  Episcopal  clergy 
man.  Dr.  Bronson  was  a  good-natured,  smiling  old 
gentleman,  who  invited  me  once  or  twice  to  make  hay 
in  his  yard,  but  who  seemed  to  care  very  little  whether 
the  boys  learned  anything  or  not.  Mr.  Cromwell  was 


Personal  Memories.  61 

somewhat  more  strict,  but  the  whole  affair  was  rather 
official  than  either  useful  or  real.  I  learned  little,  but 
Cheshire  had  three  attractions  for  me,  which,  if  they 
did  not  advance  my  education  or  elevate  my  thoughts, 
perhaps  did  me  quite  as  much  good.  First,  Cheshire 
had  a  town  library,  and,  like  most  town  libraries,  was 
chiefly  composed  of  novels.  In  the  second  place,  it 
being  summer  time,  Cheshire  abounded  in  blackberries 
and  whortleberries.  There  was  a  little  stream  in  town, 
with  some  good  land  near  it,  but  away  from  that  the 
hills  and  slopes  produced  little  but  rock  and  sand.  It 
was  a  glorious  place  for. blackberries,  and  gloriously 
did  we  enjoy  it !  For  every  new  Latin  word  I  learned 
I  obtained  at  least  a  quart  of  blackberries,  but  the  chief 
thing  I  had  was  exercise  and  pleasure.  Lastly,  Cheshire 
had  what  was  called  a  town  green,  and  it  was  a  fine 
place  to  play  in.  So  Cheshire  had  other  merits  for  me 
than  its  renewed  academy. 

The  mention  of  Cheshire  brings  up  a  political  remi 
niscence,  connected  with  a  very  remarkable  chapter  in 
our  history.  A't  Cheshire  lived  the  Hon.  Samuel  A. 
Foote,  a  friend  of  rny  father's,  to  whose  family  I  was 
introduced.  He  had  two  sons  near  my  own  age,  one 
of  whom  has  been  a  lawyer  in  Cleveland  and  a  trustee 
of  the  Ohio  Reform  School.  Samuel  A.  Foote  was 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  and  senator  and  representa 
tive  in  Congress  for  about  ten  years.  While  in  the 
senate,  in  1832,  Mr.  Foote  introduced  a  resolution,  ever 
after  known  as  "  Foote's  Resolution."  It  was  before 
the  senate  for  two  or  three  months,  and  was  debated 
by  almost  every  member  of  the  senate,  involving  all 
the  questions  of  tariff,  nullification,  and  states  rights. 
The  resolution  itself  was  not  of  much  importance,  but 


62  Personal  Memories. 

it  was  used  as  a  text  on  which  the  talent  and  eloquence 
of  the  nation  went  forth  to  the  battle  of  words,  intro 
ductory  to  that  greater  battle,  the  rebellion.  Governor 
Foote  was  a  man  of  moderate  talents,  but  of  pleasing 
manners  and  most  excellent  character.  I  remained,  as 
I  have  already  said,  but  a  brief  time  at  Cheshire. 

One  summer  day,  my  parents  drove  up  to  the  tavern 
in  their  gig,  and  found  me  on  the  town  green,  chasing 
a  pig.  My  mother  cried  out :  "  How  thin  you  are ! 
You  are  nothing  but  skin  and  bone."  ~No  wonder ; 
for  their  beloved  son  had  been  chiefly  engaged  in  play 
ing  ball,  picking  blackberries,  and  chasing  pigs.  I  was 
acquiring  the  vitality  and  fiber  which  was  to  carry  me 
through  the  next  half  century.  I  was  about  to  enter 
a  new  career.  It  was  the  summer  of  1815  when  I  re 
turned  to  West  Point.  I  was  just  fourteen  years  of 
age  when  I  received  my  appointment  as  cadet.  West 
Point  had  then  none  of  the  fine  buildings  and  orna 
ments  which  it  has  since  received.  But  nature  was 
still  the  same.  There  were  the  grand  old  mountains, 
rocks,  and  the  river  — the  same  scenes  which  had 
beheld  the  treason  of  Arnold ;  and  on  the  mountain 
side  stood  old  Fort  Put.,  almost  the  only  ruin  in  our 
country  which  can  remind  the  traveler  of  the  castel 
lated  ruins  of  Europe.  There,  too,  were  the  lonely 
graves  of  the  Revolution,  unknown  to  the  present  gen 
eration,  but  which  I  knew  and  found  beneath  the  shade 
of  the  rocks  and  the  cedars.  There  the  trees  grew 
green  o'er  the  homes  of  the  dead,  who  had  fought 
with  Washington  and  Wayne. 

"  There  the  poldier  rests  in  his  lonely  mound, 
Unmarked  by  the  mountain  storm  thundering  around." 


Personal  Memories.  63 

Old  Fort  Put.  is  the  only  witness  to  their  burial. 
Dr.  Yandergild,  of  New  York,  in  his  ode  to  "West 
Point,  begins  thus : 

"  Dreary  and  lone  as  the  scenes  that  surround  thee, 
Thy  battlements  rise  midst  the  crags  of  the  wild." 

It  was  then  almost  a  wild,  for  no  steamboats  were 
seen  on  the  river,  no  line  buildings  rose  on  the  plain, 
and  no  bright  assembly  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  greeted 
the  evening  parade.  West  Point  was  then  as  the  Rev 
olution  had  left  it,  before  the  hand  of  Young  America 
had  adorned  it  as  the  home  of  young  officers  and  the 
resort  of  fashion. 


64  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER  V. 

West  Point — Its  Organization — Its  Professors — Want 
of  Text- Books — Cadet  Life — Oral  teachings — Scenery 
and  Memorials. 

I  AM  writing  upon  Broadway,  Cincinnati,  which 
was  laid  out  by  Colonel  Mansfield  in  1808.  It  was 
part  of  sixteen  acres  which  belonged  to  the  govern 
ment,  as  the  site  of  Fort  Washington.  The  Fort 
itself  was  on  Third  street  between  Broadway  and  Lud- 
low.  His  intention  in  laying  out  a  street  so  broad 
was  to  make  a  great  avenue  for  the  city ;  but  the 
owners  above  Fourth  street  would  not  extend  it.  The 
original  street  was  called  "  Eastern  Row,"  being  laid 
out  only  sixty  feet  broad.  But,  I  need  not  proceed 
with  this  history  as  it  is  all  on  record. 

In  the  spring  of  1815,  I  was  appointed  a  cadet  at 
West  Point.  I  was  not  quite  fourteen  years  of  age, 
but  the  term  did  not  begin  until  September.  The 
history  of  my  life  while  a  cadet  is  the  history  of  the 
most  important  era  at  West  Point ;  in  which  was  be 
gun  and  established  the  whole  course  of  instruction 
and  discipline  which  has  forwarded  and,  made it  Jjia 
j  first  scientific  institution  of  the  world.  For  this  reason 
I  will  describe,  as  briefly  as  I  can,  what  took  place 
there.  I  must  begin  with  my  father,  who  \vas  the 
first  teacher  there,  and  the  real  author  of  the  scien 
tific  instruction  begun  and  continued  at  that  institu 
tion,  lie  was,  by  nature,  a  student,  and,  by  educa- 


Personal  Memories.  65 


tion,  both  a  scholar  and  a  man  of  science.  His  work 
in  establishing  the  first  Observatory  at  Ludlow  Sta 
tion  ;  his  running  the  Meridian  Lines,  and  establish 
ing  the  public  surveys  on  scientific  principles,  I  have 
already  described.  He  returned  to  West  Point  sim 
ply  from  the  love  of  teaching,  and  the  pursuit  of  sci 
ence.  His  professorship  was  that  of  natural  philoso 
phy,  mechanics,  and  astronomy.  His  first  class  con 
sisted  of  five  persons,  whom  he  received  and  taught 
in  his  own  parlor.  He  remained  at  the  military  acad 
emy  fifteen  years.  He  was  beloved  by  his  pupils. 
When  he  retired,  the  cadets  and  officers  had  his  por 
trait  painted  by  Sully,  and  it  now  hangs  in  the  library 
at  West  Point.  It  wTas  after  he  went  there  that  I  was 
sent  to  Cheshire.  Thence,  I  returned  a  mere  boy, 
with  no  particular  plan  of  life,  or  any  particular  ideas 
of  anything,  except  play  and  amusement.  In  fact,  I  had 
spent  nearly  all  my  time  in  Cheshire  in  play,  and  had  no 
special  desire  for  study  of  any  kind.  Why  should  I? 
It  would  be  a  curious  and  instructive  chapter  of  hu 
man  life,  if  each  one  who  had  led  a  busy,  or  a  studi 
ous  life  could  relate  just  how  and  when  motives  began 
to  act  upon  his  mind  ;  for,  it  is  motives  of  some  kind 
which  move  the  rnind  to  any  action,  or  any  purpose. 
I  can  tell  distinctly  when  motives  began  to  act  upon 
me,  and  moral  stimulus  to  invigorate  my  spirit.  It  will 
appear  as  I  proceed.  Two  years  at  West  Point  w^ere 
almost  as  useless  as  the  one  which  preceded  them; 
and  then  came  a  change,  which  will  be  apparent.  In 
the  meanwhile,  however,  I  did  acquire  much.  I  could 
not  help  it.  So  many  lessons  had  to  be  recited  each 
day,  and  I  could  not  fail  to  learn  something.  Those 
were  the  days  of  my  algebra,  geometry,  trigonometry, 


Personal  Memories. 


French,  and  drawing.  I  was  quick  to  learn,  and  of 
course,  learned  all  these  things,  in  what  was  thought 
a  creditable  manner.  Fortunately  for  me,  nine-tenths 
of  the  young  men  had  no  aptitude  for  mathematics, 
while  I  had.  Something  occurred  in  the  processes  of 
my  mind  then,  which  made  me  think,  in  after  years, 
of  the  true  method  of  teaching  and  learning.  The 
most  difficult  and  inscrutable  thing,  to  me,  was  that 
which  is  really  the  simplest  and  easiest  of  all  mathe-^ 
matical  ideas — the  elementary  proportions  of  geome 
try.  For  a  dozen  or  two  theorems,  I  went  on  recit 
ing  well  and  accurately,  without  having  the  least  idea 
of  the  relations  of  angles,  and  figures,  and  surfaces; 
but,  after  a  little  while,  I  got  light  on  those  relations, 
and  from  that  moment,  geometry,  mechanics,  and  me 
chanical  philosophy  have  been  the  easiest  studies  I 
ever  pursued.  This  taught  me  the  fundamental  prin 
ciple  of  all  teaching,  learning,  and  reasoning.  All 
science  and  all  philosophy  have  certain  units,  element 
ary  truths,  hack  of  which  you  can  not  go,  and  with 
out  which  you  can  make  no  system  of  science  what 
ever.  Hence,  the  very  beginning  of  all  instruction 
is  the  original  units,  and  if  they  are  once  understood, 
all  else  is  easy.  Hence,  wye  see  the  wisdom  of  the 
great  music  professor,  who  kept  his  pupil  nine  years 
practicing  on  the  notes  and  chords,  and  then  sent  him 
out  the  best  singer  in  Europe. 

The  professors  of  the  academy,  when  I  first  went 
there,  were  my  father,  professor  of  philosophy  and  as 
tronomy;  ANDREW  ELLICOT,  professor  of  mathematics, 
who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  government,  and 
was,  I  think,  the  man  who  laid  out  the  City  of  Wa-h- 
ington ;  CLAUDE  CROZET,  who  had  been  an  engineer  in 


Personal  Memories.  67 

Napoleon's  army,  and  was  one  of  the  few  who  sur 
vived  the  retreat  from  Moscow.  CLAUDIUS  BBRARD  was 
professor  of  French.  He  was  a  man  of  letters  and  a 
scholar.  CHRISTIAN  ZOELLER  was  professor  of  drawing. 
Besides  these,  there  was  a  commander  of  the  battalion, 
a  fencing  master,  and  two  or  three  assistant  professors. 
My  immediate  teacher  of  mathematics  was  Stephen  H. 
Long,  afterward  a  distinguished  civil  engineer.  The  first 
two  years  were  occupied  with  mathematics,  drawing, 
skating,  fencing,  football,  and  dancing.  Up  to  this  time 
I  had  no  motives  for  action,  except  the  simple  ones  of 
not  being  degraded  in  my  class,  and  the  better  one  of 
pleasing  my  mother,  who  was  always  admonishing  me 
upon  the  duties  of  life.  Thus  passed  the  first  two  years 
at  West  Point,  in  which  I  acquired  a  tolerable  knowl 
edge  of  mathematics  and  French.  But,  now,  in  1817, 
came  a  change  over  me,  over  the  institution,  and  over 
the  very  place  itself.  How  this  came  about  is  best  re 
lated  by  describing  the  situation  of  affairs  before  that 
change,  as  compared  with  their  present  condition. 

During  the  years  1815  and  1816,  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  the  institution  was  conducted  on  something 
like  a  patriarchal  system,  by  Captain  Alden  Partridge 
of  the  engineers,  who  had  practical  ideas  and  paid 
very  little  attention  to  the  laws  and  regulations  estab 
lished  for  the  teaching.  He  thought  that  a  great 
military  school  might  be  conducted  upon  the  same 
principles  with  a  college,  he  being  in  the  light  of 
a  president,  who  should  advise  and  admonish  the  boys 
and  regulate  things  generally,  without  much  regard 
to  the  army  regulations.  In  one  word,  the  academy  was 
conducted  without  system,  and  without  much  regard 
to  anything  save  the  opinion  of  Captain  Partridge. 


68  Personal  Memories. 

Here,  I  may  say,  that  he  afterward  (having  resigned 
from  the  army)  established  two  military  schools,  in 
corporated  in  Vermont,  and  Connecticut.  He  was  an 
able  and  popular  man,  but  very  little  fitted  for  the 
army. 

To  the  unsystematic  and  in  some  respects  illegal 
manner  of  conducting  the  academy,  my  father  was 
strongly  opposed,  and  so  in  the  end  were  all  the  officers 
and  professors.  After  a  decided  conflict,  a  change  was 
effected  in  the  institution.  Captain  Partridge  was 
ordered  away  and  resigned.  In  his  place  was  ap 
pointed  ^COLONEL  SYLVANUS  THAYEB,- one  of  the  most 
accomplished  men  in  the  army,  and  the  very  best 
fitted  for  the  place.  He  was  a  polished  gentleman, 
and  a  strict  disciplinarian.  He  voluntarily  retired 
from  the  academy  a  few  years  after,  took  charge  of 
Fort  Warren,  in  Boston  harbor,  and  recently  died  at 
more  than  eighty  years  of  age.  No  improvement  has 
been  made  in  the  academy  since  he  left  it ;  I  mean  in 
the  course  and  manner  of  studies  and  discipline.  A 
greater  amount  of  means  has  been  provided,  new 
buildings  erected,  West  Point  beautified,  and  the 
world  admitted  into  hotels ;  but,  in  the  mode,  morals, 
and  discipline  of  the  institution,  no  change  has 
been  made.  COLONEL  THAYER  took  charge  of  the 
academy  011  or  about  the  first  of  January,  1817.  This 
was  rather  a  memorable  date  with  me,  for  I  was  look 
ing  at  a  battery  firing — New  Year's  salute — when  one 
of  the  cadets  was  instantly  killed  by  a  cannon,  prema 
turely  discharged.  This  was  Vincent  M.  Lowe,  whose 
name  I  mention,  because  what  is  called  the  "  cadet's 
monument"  was  erected  to  him  while  I  was  there. 
After  Colonel  Thayer  took  command  everything  was 


Personal  Memories.  "  69 

changed.  Order  took  the  place  of  disorder.  A  faculty 
was  formed  with  the  professors  and  superintendent, 
and  they  were  governed  by  the  law  creating  the  acad 
emy,  and  the  regulations  of  the  army.  In  one  word 
the  academy  hecame  a  great  school  of  military  science, 
and  from  that  date  competed  with  the  best  in  the  world. 
Among  other  changes  made,  there  was  one  which  had 
a  particular  bearing  on  me.  It  was  ordered  by  the  war 
department,  that  at  each  annual  examination,  five  cadets 
of  each  class  should  be  enrolled  according  to  merit,  and 
their  promotion  in  the  army  be  determined  by  this  order. 
When  this  order  was  issued,  I  remember  very  well,  when 
sitting  at  the  breakfast  table,  my  mother  (who  was  am 
bitious  for  her  son)  said  that  I  could  and  must  be  one 
of  the  "five,"  who,  by  the  way,  were  to  be  honorably 
recorded  in  the  army  register.  I  don't  think  this 
mention  moved  me  much,  but  my  father  looked  up 
and  said:  "Edward,  if  you  will  be  one  of  the  five,  I 
will  give  you  the  best  gold  watch  I  can  buy."  That 
struck  my  attention,  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  was  the 
leading  motive  to  my  increased  activity.  A  gold  watch 
is  rather  a  stirring  prize  to  a  youth.  I  had  only  two 
years  to  make  up  time  in,  but  I  did  it,  and  the  watch 
I  wear  is  the  evidence  of  my  diligence.  From  that 
moment  I  waked  up,  and  did  a  good  deal  of  hard  work 
before  my  graduation.  I  have  often  said,  and  repeat 
here,  that  our  class  had  harder  work  than  any  one 
since  has  had.  For  this  there  were  some  good  reasons, 
and  if  this  page  should  be  seen  by  anyone  interested 
in  the  history  of  scientific  institutions,  it  may  be  well 
to  note  some  of  the  conditions  of  science  in  this  country 
at  that  time.  We  were  the  first  class  organized  and 
taught  in  the  mode  and  on  the  principles  now  adopted 


70  Personal  Memories. 

at  West  Point.  Hero  we  had  all  the  difficulties  of 
pioneers,  and  they  are  not  small.  First  of  all  was  the 
difficulty  of  text-books.  Nobody  now  can  imagine 
what  that  was,  for  now  men  of  science  and  great  pub 
lishing  houses  are  engaged  in  preparing  and  publish 
ing  text-books.  Then  there  were  literally  no  text 
books  for  students.  There  were  books  of  science  for 
men  of  science,  but  none  for  students.  The  French 
were  the .  earliest  and  best  makers  of  text-books ; 
but  we  were  not  then  prepared  to  study  science  in  the 
French  language.  Hence  our  course  of  study  was  a 
rough  one,  compared  with  what  is  now.  I  will  give 
you  some  examples.  My  father  could  not  find  any  book 
for  mechanical  philosopy  but  "Gregory's  Mechanics." 
This  was  a  book  written  for  men  of  science,  and,  of 
course,  hard  for  students,  but  that  was  our  text-book. 
But  there  were  some  subjects  on  which  we  had  no 
text-book,  good  or  bad.  A  French  mathematician 
named  "Monge"  had  devised,  or  first  published,  a 
system  of  practical  geometry,  called  "Descriptive 
Geometry."  The  primary  idea  of  it  is  the  representa 
tion  of  all  objects,  or  geometrical  figures,  by  projection 
on  two  planes,  perpendicular  to  one  another.  It  is  a 
very  useful  thing  in  some  practical  problems.  This 
was  studied  in  the  French  Polytecnique  School,  and 
we  had. to  study  it,  and  that  without  any  text-books 
whatever.  Our  professor  of  engineering  was  CLAUDE 
CROZET,  whom  I  have  mentioned  was  an  officer  of  en 
gineers  in  Napoleon's  last  army.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  the  Polytechnique  School,  and  fortunately  had  all 
his  drawings  and  books  with  him.  Here,  then,  were 
we  to  study  descriptive  geometry,  and  the  problems  of 
engineering  connected  with  it,  without  the  slightest 


Personal  Memories.  71 

idea  of  what  we  were  to  do,  and  without  any  books  on 
the  subject.  But  we  had  what  was  better.  We  had 
Claude  Crozet,  a  large  black-board  and  chalk,  with 
the  drawings  of  the  Polytechnique  Institute.  We  were 
compelled  to  adopt  the  old  Greek  method  of  oral  in 
struction,  and  it  is  the  best.  I  have  often  thought,  since, 
that,  if  it  were  possible  to  teach  all  sciences  and  lan 
guages  orally,  the  education  acquired  would  be  better 
and  higher.  The  result  would  be  that  each  student 
would  make  for  himself  the  science  or  language  he  was 
learning.  Some  years  after  that  I  saw  this  idea  real 
ized,  when  my  sister  was  learning  French.  Mr.  Du- 
commun,  a  French  professor  at  West  Point,  volun 
teered  to  teach  her.  All  the  books  she  had  was  a 
blank-book.  Each  day  she  wrote  in  that  the  lesson, 
beginning  with  the  alphabet,  and  going  through  all  the 
parts  of  grammar.  The  end  was  that  she  had  made 
and  written  in  her  blank-book  the  whole  French  gram 
mar.  After  that  she  began  at  once  to  read  French. 
She  began  with  a  French  story- writer,  Floriaw,  whose 
tales  were  beautiful.  This  part,  I  shared  in,  for  I 
read  Florian,  Madame  De  Stael,  Moliere,  and  other 
French  writers  with  great  delight. 

But  I  must  return.  For  the  want  of  good  text 
books,  our  class  had  a  far  harder  time  of  study  than 
any  succeeding  class.  We  also  had  a  far  harder  time 
in  work  and  discipline.  You  will  see  this  when  I  tell 
you  what  we  had  and  what  we  had  not.  You  go  to 
West  Point  now,  and  you  see  a  line  drill-room  and  a 
cavalry-house,  and  soldiers  to  do  the  hard  work.  In 
one  word,  you  find  West  Point  quite  an  elegant  retreat 
for  young  gentlemen  who  are  not  expected  to  do  much 
hard  work  in  this  world,  and  whose  health  a  little  rain 


72  Personal  Memories. 

might  endanger.  Now,  when  we  were  there,  none  of 
those  things  existed,  and  onr  work  was  adapted  to 
harden,  if  not  refine.  "We  invariably  arose  at  the  tap  of  the 
drum  after  reveille,  summer  or  winter,  and  drilled  to 
breakfast,  which  was  at  seven  o'clock.  In  the  long 
days  of  summer,  there  was  a  two  hours'  drill  before 
breakfast ;  and,  with  sleepiness  and  weariness,  without 
rest  or  food,  it  seemed  as  if  human  nature  could  scarcely 
endure  it.*  In  winter  the  drill  was  shorter,  but  more 
severe.  I  have  drilled  at  "West  Point  when  the  plain 
was  covered  with  a  sheet  of  ice  and  the  thermometer 
at  zero.  ~No  warm  house  covered  us,  and  no  fear  of 
weather  alarmed  us.  The  afternoon  drill  was  at  four 
o'clock,  as  now,  and  that  was  not  unpleasant ;  for  in 
summer  it  was  good  weather,  and  we  had  an  assembly 
of  lookers-on  to  admire  us.  But  I  can  not  say  that  I 
ever  greatly  admired  drilling,  especially  the  artillery 
drill,  when  we  had  no  horses.  You  go  there  now,  and 
the  young  gentlemen  manage  their  artillery  admirably, 
for  they  have  good  horses.  We  were  our  own  horses, 
and  many  a  day  have  we  drawn  the  cannon  over  hill 
and  dale  by  a  leather  harness  thrown  over  our  shoul 
ders.  It  was  very  hard  work,  and  it  was  unnecessary ; 
but  I  have  no  reason  to  complain,  for  these  four  years 
were  years  of  regimen  and  discipline,  to  which  after 
life  furnished  no  equal.  He  who  comes  forth  from  an 
education  with  a  strong  body,  a  clear  mind,  and  an 
unstained  conscience,  has  got  from  it  all  that  human 
teaching  can  give. 

*  I  do  not  mean  to  say,  that  the  drills  are  not  the  same ;  but 
that  the  facilities  and  conveniences  are  so  much  greater,  that  the 
cadets  have  no  longer  so  severe  a  regimen.  The  order  of  the 
institution  has  remained  the  same  since  1817. 


Personal  Memories.  73 

You  can  see  from  what  I  have  said  that  West  Point 
was  to  our  class  almost  an  unmixed  scene  of  work  and 
study ;  but  we  had  some  amusements.  In  summer,  the 
latter  part  of  the  afternoon,  we  often  played  foot-ball, 
a  game  I  was  fond  of,  as  I  was  a  fast  runner,  and  alert 
in  all  field  games.  In  winter  the  Hudson  furnished  the 
best  skating  in  the  world ;  and  when  they  could  get  an 
hour  to  spare,  much  did  the  cadets  enjoy  the  ice  of  the 
Hudson. 

Saturday  afternoons  were  always  given  us,  and  in 
summer  that  was  my  time  for  walking,  and  much  did 
I  enjoy  the  sublime  and  picturesque  scenery  of  the 
highlands.  I  have  seen  many  beautiful  and  grand 
scenes,  but  I  never  saw  one  which  surpassed  that  up 
the  river  from  West  Point.  I  would  often  run  to  a  Old 
Fort  Put.,"  and  look  oif  from  its  battlements  upon  the 
rock-built  mountains  and  the  lake-like  river,  shut  in 
between  Beacon  Hill  and  Crow  Nest.  One  day  I  was 
looking  from  the  walls  of  the  old  fort,  when  a  storm 
rose  suddenly  from  the  north,  and  a  large  sloop,  near 
the  Point,  was  struck  before  the  sails  could  be  taken 
in.  Over  she  went,  and  women  and  children  were 
drowned  in  the  deep  water  below.  It  was  on  old  Fort 
Put.  that  Dr.  Yandergild  wrote  these  beautiful  lines, 
beginning  with — 

"  Lonely  and  drear  as  the  scenes  that  surround  thee, 
Thy  battlements  rise  'midst  the  crags  of  the  wild." 

West  Point  is  no  longer  lonely,  but  as  you  look  upon 
the  ruined  walls  of  the  old  fort,  and  again  upon  those 
bold  and  rock-built  mountains,  there  is  a  scene  of  wild- 
ness  and  grandeur  which  reminds  you  of  some  myste 
rious  ruins,  which  the  hand  of  civilization  has  left  un 
touched. 


74  Personal  Memories. 

In   wandering   through   the  woods    and    hills  are 

O  O 

found  the  remains  of  no  less  than  thirteen  forts  and 
batteries,  which  had  been  built  in  the  revolution. 
The  trees  are  grown  upon  most  of  them,  and  nearly 
all  will  he  unknown  to  the  next  generation.  In  the 
woods  were  the  remains  of  the  huts  in  which  the  rev 
olutionary  army  encamped,  and  all  around  were  the 
little  raised  mounds,  which  indicate  the  graves  of  the 
dead  : 

"  There  they  sleep  in  lonely  tombs,  forgetting,  forgot, 
Unawak'd  by  the  mountain  storm  thund'ring  around." 

These  memorials  are  even  now  unknown,  and  soon 
nothing  but  these  lines  will  record  their  existence. 
Near  by,  above  Washington's  valley,  rises  the  beauti 
ful  cemetery,  which  contains  the  marble  monuments 
of  those  who  come  after,  and  they,  too,  with  their 
cemetery,  will  soon  pass  into  the  unrecorded  and  un- 
remembered  past.  Veiy  probably  the  picture  of  my 
father,  which  hangs  in  the  library  of  the  academy, 
will  survive  all  the  monuments,  and  transmit  to  other 
generations  the  calm  and  abstract  expression  of  him 
who  was  the  first  teacher  of  West  Point  and  one  of 
the  most  scientific  minds  of  America. 

But  I  must  pass  on.  One  of  the  amusing  things  to 
be  found  among  a  large  body  of  young  men  is  the 
singular  and  original  characters  one  meets  with.  I 
only  remember  here  and  there  an  incident  which 
amused  me  at  the  time.  I  have  often  mentioned  them 
as  they  were  told  to  me.  One  young  man,  who  had 
been  made  a  butt  of  by  the  cadets,  it  is  said,  went  to 
old  Captain  Partridge,  then  superintendent,  and  with 
melancholy  face  said:  "Captain,!  have  come  to  re 
sign  my  resignation,  because  I  have  no  comfort  in  my 


Personal  Memories.  75 


happiness."  I  believe  he  was  comforted  and  induced 
to  remain. 

Another  was  Corbin,  of  Virginia,  who  came  at  a 
later  date,  and  was  what  is  commonly  called  a  "green" 
young  man  from  the  rural  districts.  It  happened  to 
be  Christmas  time,  and  for  a  marvel  there  was  a  tur 
key  on  his  mess-table,  and  for  an  equal  wonder — it 
being  Christmas — the  carver  was  polite  to  the  stranger. 
So  he  said:  "Mr.  Corbin,  what  part  will  you  take?" 
Corbin  instantly  replied:  "Imparticular — big  piece — 
anywhar!"  He  was  rather  smart,  but  continued 
rough,  but  good  natured. 

I  had  a  classmate  named  Rupp,  who  was  not  smart. 
On  the  contrary,  it  took  him  a  great  deal  of  labor  to 
get  his  lessons,  and  he  wanted  all  his  study  hours. 
Corbiu,  on  the  other  hand,  was  lazy,  and  went  about 
visiting.  He  took  a  fancy  to  Hupp,  and  would  go  to 
Rupp's  room  when  the  latter  was  hard  at  study.  At 
length  Hupp  asked  him  to  come  at  some  other  hour. 
But  no — his  good  natured  friend  would  drop  in,  much 
to  his  discomfiture.  So  he  told  Corbin  he  must  not 
come  in  any  more  in  study  hours.  But  all  in  vain, 
all  in  vain.  Soon  after  in  comes  Corbin,  when  he  was 
puzzling  on  a  mathematical  problem.  Poor  Hupp 
could  stand  it  no  longer:  "  Corbin,  get  out,  and  if  you 
come  in  again,  I  will  kick  you  out !"  The  calm  voice 
of  Corbin  replied  :  "  E"ow,  Rupp,  none  of  your  hints!" 
Ever  after  we  would  speak  of  "  Rupp's  hints"  as 
among  the  new  measures  of  the  day. 

Corbin  I  remember  particularly,  from  being  in  my 
company,  and  in  my  room,  in  the  old  City  Hotel  of 
New  York,  when  we  were  marched  down  to  be  re 
viewed  by  Governor  Clinton.  The  old  City  Hotel  of 


76  Personal  Memories. 

New  York  was  on  Broadway,  below  Wall,  and  almost 
the  only  real  hotel  in  the  city.  The  city  was  then 
only  one-tenth  of  what  it  is  now,  and  the  old  City 
Hall  was  thought  the  finest  building  in  the  country, 
and  so  I  think  it  was.  St.  Paul's  Church  was  then 
the  best  in  the  city,  and  there  it  now  stands  with  old 
graveyard  and  its  monument  to  Emmitt.  Our  com 
pany  was  encamped,  as  it  were,  in  the  City  Hotel. 
The  band  of  the  battalion,  with  another  company, 
occupied  the  great  ball  room.  The  next  day  after  our 
arrival  we  were  reviewed  in  front  of  the  City  Hall. 
It  was  one  of  the  hottest  days  I  ever  experienced,  and 
we  had  a  long  and  weary  march.  "When  dismissed,  I 
rushed  to  an  ice-cream  shop,  and  I  think  nothing  ever 
tasted  better  than  ice-cream  then  did. 

In  the  evening  of  that  day  we  were  inarched  to  the 
theater,  where  old  Barnes,  a  famous  comic  actor, 
played.  I  was  not  much  interested  in  the  play  and 
altogether  disgusted  with  the  theater.  Whatever 
people  may  say,  the  theater,  at  least  in  its  manner 
and  outward  appearance,  has  much  improved  since 
that  day.  It  is  true  that  great  tragedians  were  highly 
valued  then,  and  that  the  melodrama  and  the  mena 
gerie  plays  are  more  common  now,  but  the  general 
tone  of  the  best  theaters  has  improved. 

In  the  following  winter  the  superintendent  allowed 
our  fencing  master  to  give  dancing  lessons,  and  on 
the  days  or  evenings  in  which  we  were  allowed  to  go 
we  had  a  jolly  time.  The  ladies  were  few,  but  there 
were  enough  to  make  up  a  dance,  and  make  it  pleas 
ant  for  us  who  were  allowed  to  go.  I  can  not  recall 
but  two  ladies  of  that  number  now  alive.  I  will  say 
that  our  teacher  said  I  was  the  best  walker  at  the 


Personal  Memories.  77 

Point — a  quality  which  I  retained  until,  a  few  years 
since,  I  was  thrown  out  of  a  buggy  and  so  injured 
that  I  have  not  walked  so  well  since. 

The  time  now  drew  near  in  which  I  was  to  finish 
my  career  at  the  academy.  The  annual  examination 
was  the  dread  of  all  good  students;  the  poor  ones,  I 
imagine,  were  less  anxious.  I  had  began  real  study 
only  when  half  my  time  there  had  passed;  but  then 
the  last  two  years  had  been  years  of  hard  work,  and 
now  I  must  prepare  for  the  examination,  which  at 
"West  Point  was  then  ver\T  severe — more  so  than  it  is 
now.  It  was  the  only  time  in  my  life  in  which  I  sat 
up  late  at  night  to  study,  and  then  only  for  two  or 
three  nights.  It  was  hot  weather,  and  my  mother 
made  me  strong  tea.  The  examination  passed  off  very 
well,  and  I  graduated  the  fourth  in  my  clns.-;.  I  was, 
I  believe,  the  youngest  who  has  ever  graduated,  I 
had  not  reached  my  eighteenth  birthday,  when  I  was 
commissioned  in  the  engineer  corps,  and.  ordered  to 
Washington  City.  It  was  the  best  appointment  the 
government  could  give,  and  it  may  be  questionable 
whether  it  was  wise  to  decline  it;  but  I  did,  and  left 
all  military  service  behind  me.  Who  is  it  says  : 
"  There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough-hew  them  how  we  will !  " 

In  this  case  the  agent  of  divinity  was  my  mother, 
who  did  not  want  me  in  the  army,  and  who  did  want 
me  to  come  West.  Then  it  was  decided  I  should  enter 
college  and  study  law.  This  changed  the  whole 
course  of  life,  and  what  came  of  it  I  will  relate  here 
after. 


78  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Go  to  a  Connecticut  Academy — Farmwgton — Neio  Eng 
land  Society — Young  People's  Party — Timothy  Pit  kin 
— Missouri  Compromise — Effect  in  Connecticut — Re 
turn  to  West  Point — Classic  Studies— Mr.  Pit-ton. 

I  GRADUATED  at  West  Point  in  June,  1819.  I  stood 
fourth  in  the  class,  and  was  commissioned  second  lieu 
tenant  of  engineers.  My  commission  was  signed  by 
John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  AVar.  It  was  deter 
mined  in  the  family  council,  however,  that  I  should  he 
a  lawyer.  This  required  a  new  departure  and  a  new 
preparation.  I  therefore  declined  my  appointment  as 
lieutenant  of  engineers,  and  my  father  offered  to  pay 
hack  to  the  government  all  the  money  spent  upon  me 
at  West  Point.  The  government,  however,  would  not 
receive  it,  there  being  no  law  authorizing  it  to  do  so. 
I  then  proceeded  to  buy  citizens'  clothes,  which  I  men 
tion  here  because  of  the  difference  between  that  day 
and  this  in  price  and  fashion.  It  (the  cloth  for  my  suit) 
was  bright  blue  broadcloth,  and  cost  fourteen  dollars 
a  yard ;  was  made  close  fitting,  and  ornamented  with 
bright  gilt  buttons.  At  the  present  time  the  cloth 
used  for  gentlemen's  suits  would  not  be  probably 
more  than  half  this  cost  for  the  best,  and  is  not  so  well 
made  up.  In  one  word,  gentlemen  do  not  dress  so 
well  now  as  then.  The  gentlemen  of  the  revolution 
ary  school  dressed  with  powdered  hair,  white  top  boots, 
silk  breeches,  and  silver  knee-buckles.  This  had  passed 


Personal  Memories.  79 

away  before  my  time,  as  a  fashion  at  least,  though  I 
saw  two  or  three  gentlemen  so  dressed  in  Connecticut. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  manners  of  gentlemen  have 
not  declined  so  much  as  their  dress.  In  August,  1815, 
my  father  took  me  to  Farmington,  Conn.,  to  prepare, 
under  a  private  tutor,  to  enter  college,  preparatory  to 
the  study  of  the  law.  There  were  then,  and  I  believe 
are  still,  academies  and  private  tutors  in  New  England 
for  the  purpose  of  preparing  young  men  for  college. 
They  are  the  feeders  of  the  New  England  colleges,  and 
have  done  much  to  sustain  their  high  reputation.  The 
winter  after  this  I  was  wandering  with  Virgil  and  puz 
zling  over  the  intricacies  of  the  Greek  grammar  or  the 
Epistles  of  Paul. 

As  this  was  to  me  a  new  and  striking  life,  I  will  give 
a  little  description  of  it,  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  the  in 
side  view  I  had  of  New  England  society.  My  tutor, 
Mr.  Hooker,  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  old  New 
England  families,  and  had  all  the  characteristics  of  the 
Puritans ;  was  very  religious  and  exact  in  all  his  du 
ties.  He  lived  on  what  had  been  a  farm,  but  a  por 
tion  of  it  had  been  embraced  in  the  town.  Having 

O 

got  forward  in  the  world,  he  had  built  a  new  house. 
His  old  house  was  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  country, 
large,  dark-red,  with  a  long,  sharp,  projecting  roof. 
This  was  the  residence  and  schoolroom  of  the  students, 
and  we  called  it  "  Old  Red."  There  were  about  four 
teen  of  us,  from  nearly  as  many  states.  There  we 
lodged,  and  there  we  recited,  while  we  took  our  meals 
at  Mr.  Hooker's.  His  son  John  afterward  married 
Miss  Isabella  Beecher,  now  the  noted  Mrs.  Isabella 
Hooker. 

Mr.  Hooker  was  a  deacon  in  the  church — the  church 


80  Personal  Memories. 

I  say,  emphatically,  for  it  was  the  only  one  in  the  vil 
lage — a  monument  remaining  to  the  old  and  unques 
tioned  orthodoxy  of  New  England.  It  stood  on  the 
little  green,  its  high,  sharp  spire  pointing  to  heaven. 
The  pastor  of  that  church  was  Mr.  Porter,  who 
preached  there  for  nearly  half  a  century.  He  was  the 
father  of  the  present  Noah  Porter,  president  of  Yale 
College.  Mr.  Hooker  took  a  large  pew  for  the  stu 
dents,  and  told  us  to  make  notes  of  the  sermon,  upon 
which  he  questioned  us.  I  was  always  thankful  for 
this  exercise,  for  I  got  into  such  a  habit  of  analyzing 
discourses  that  if  the  speaker  had  any  coherence  at  all, 
I  could  always  give  the  substance  of  the  sermon  or 
address.  This  is  to  a  newspaper  man  a  useful  talent. 
I  have  tried  to  discover  what  was  the  religious  effect 
of  this  continual  hearing  and  analyzing  sermons,  but 
could  not  find  any.  Such  exercises  become  a  habit, 
and  are  purely  intellectual.  A  striking  figure  is  some 
times  remembered,  but  any  spiritual  effect  is  wantiiig 
on  young  people  who  have  not  learned  to  think  se 
riously.  I  remember  one  of  Mr.  Porter's  illustrations 
of  the  idea  of  death,  which  I  think  he  must  have  taken 
from  Sir  Walter  Scott's  "Talisman."  At  any  rate, 
Scott  has  beautifully  described  it  in  that  work.  It  is 
that  of  Saladin,  who,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  splendid 
fete,  surrounded  by  his  chiefs,  had  the  black  banner 
unfolded,  on  which  was  inscribed,"  Saladin,  remember 
thou  must  die ! "  Mr.  Porter  was  more  than  half  a 
century  minister  in  that  parish,  a  most  successful  cler 
gyman,  honored  in  his  life  and  in  his  death.  Such  was 
the  ministration  of  the  church  to  me,  but  I  must  say 
that  in  the  service  the  chief  objects  of  my  devotion 
were  the  bright  and  handsome  girls  around.  At  that 


Personal  Memories.  81 

time,  and  to  a  great  degree  yet  in  a  ~Ncw  England  vil 
lage,  out  of  the  great  stream  of  the  world,  its  young 
women  were  the  largest  part  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
by  far  the  most  interesting.  The  young  men  usually 
emigrated  to  the  cities  or  the  West,  in  hopes  of  making 
fortunes.  The  old  people  were  obliged  to  remain  to 
take  care  of  their  homesteads,  and  the  young  wome  a 
stayed  also. 

No  place  illustrated  this  better  than  Farmington, 
where  there  were  at  least  five  young  women  to  one  young 
man.  The  advent  of  the  students  was  of  course  an 
interesting  event  to  them.  And  a  young  gentleman 
in  his  nineteenth  year  was  not  likely  to  escape  wholly 
the  bright  shafts  which,  however  modestly  directed, 
he  was  sure  to  encounter.  I  soon  became  acquainted 
with  these  young  ladies,  and  never  passed  a  pleasanter 
time  than  when  days  of  study  were  relieved  by  eve 
nings  in  their  society.  My  father  went  with  me  to 
Farmington,  and  introduced  me  to  the  Hon.  Timothy 
Pitkin.  This  gentleman  was  then  a  very  distinguished 
man.  He  was  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  old  Fed 
eral  party.  He  was  sixteen  years  a  representative  from 
the  State  of  Connecticut,  and  had  written  a  very  good 
book  on  the  civil  history  and  statistics  of  this  country. 
He  was  a  plain  man,  of  the  old  school,  living  in  an 
old-fashioned  house,  near  the  church.  In  two  or  three 
weeks  after  I  had  been  in  "  Old  Red,"  Mr.  Pitkin 
called  upon  me,  and  said  his  daughters  would  be  glad 
to  see  me  on  a  certain  evening.  Of  course  I  accepted ; 
and  on  that  evening,  arrayed  in  my  unrivaled  blue 
coat,  with  brass  buttons,  cravated  and  prinked,  accord 
ing  to  the  fashion,  I  presented  myself  at  Mr.  Pitkin's. 
It  was  well  I  had  been  accustomed  to  good  society, 


82  Personal  Memories. 


for  never  was  there  a  greater  demand  for  moral  cour 
age.  On  entering  the  parlor,  I  saw  one  young  man 
leaning  on  the  mantle-piece,  and  around  the  room,  for 
I  counted  them,  were  eighteen  young  ladies  !  During 
the  evening  my  comrade  and  self  were  reinforced 
by  two  or  three  students,  but  five  made  the  whole  num 
ber  of  young  men  who  appeared  during  the  evening. 
The  gentleman  who  was  in  the  room  when  I  entered 
it  was  Mr.  Thomas  Perkins,  of  Hartford,  who  after 
ward  married  Miss  Mary  Beecher,  the  daughter  of  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher.  The  town  of  Farmington  furnished 
but  one  beau  during  the  evening,  and  I  found  out  aft7 
erward  that  there  were  but  two  or  three  in  the  place ;  I 
mean  in  that  circle  of  society.  This  was  perhaps  an 
extreme  example  of  what  might  have  been  found  in 
all  the  villages  of  New  England,  where,  in  the  same 
circle  of  society,  there  were  at  least  three  girls  to  one 
young  man.  You  may  be  sure  that  when  I  looked 
upon  that  phalanx  of  eighteen  young  women,  even  the 
assurance  of  a  West  Point  cadet  gave  way.  But  the 
perfect  tact  of  the  hostess  saved  me  from  trouble. 
This  was  Miss  Ann  Pitkin,  now  Mrs.  Denio,  her  hus 
band  being  Mr.  Denio,  late  Chief  Justice  of  New  York. 
Miss  Pitkili  evidently  saw  my  embarrassment,  which 
was  the  greater  from  my  being  near-sighted.  She 
promptly  came  forward,  offered  me  a  chair,  and,  intro 
ducing  me  to  the  ladies,  at  once  began  an  animated 
conversation.  In  half  an  hour  I  felt  at  home,  and  was 
ever  after  grateful  to  Miss  Pitkin. 

I  will  mention  here  as  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
New  England  manners,  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pitkin 
never  once  entered  the  room  on  this  occasion,  and  the 
older  people  never  appeared  at  any  of  the  parties  or 


Personal  Memories.  83 

sleigh-rides  given  by  the  young  people,  or  at  any 
gatherings  not  public.  This  was  contrary  to  the  cus 
toms  of  my  father's  house,  where  people  of  all  ages 
attended  the  parties,  and  my  mother  was  the  most 
conspicuous  person  and  the  most  agreeable  of  enter 
tainers.  I  think  it  both  more  agreeable  and  useful  to 
have  parties  composed  of  all  the  members  of  families; 
but,  perhaps,  this  custom  gave  the  young  women  of 
Connecticut  that  self-command  and  independence  of 
character  which  is  characteristic  of  them.  Parties  for 
young  people  in  those  days  were  given  cheaply  and 
simply,  even  the  largest  parties  at  NQW  Haven  and 
Hartford  were  given  at  a  tenth  of  the  cost  of  one  in 
Cincinnati  at  the  present  day,  where  the  object  seems 
to  be  less  hospitality  than  show.  I  attended  a  very 
large  wedding  party  in  Hartford,  at  Gen.  Terry's,  the 
grandfather  of  the  present  Gen.  Terry,  where  every 
thing  was  hospitable  and  pleasing,  rat  her  than  expen 
sive.  In  those  days  aristocracy  had  something  of  re 
ality,  but  in  these  times  proclaims  itself  parvenu.  I 
only  regret  that  American  society  should  imitate  the 
vanities  and  vices  of  aristocracy  rather  than  its  vir 
tues  and  talents. 

But  to  return  to  Farmington,  the  evening  passed 
pleasantly  away,  and  I  was  launched  into  Farmington 
society ;  as  there  were  only  three  of  us,  at  the  close 
of  the  entertainment,  to  escort  the  young  ladies  home, 
it  was  fortunate  that  Farmington  was  built  almost  en 
tirely  in  one  street,  so  one  of  us  took  the  girls  who 
went  down  street,  one,  those  who  went  up  street,  and 
a  third,  those  who  branched  off.  Of  these  young 
ladies,  more  than  half  bore  one  name,  that  of  Cowles. 
I  was  told  there  were  in  that  township  three  hundred 


84  Personal  Memories. 


persons  of  the  name  of  Cowles.  There  were  on  the 
main  street  five  families  of  brothers,  in  all  of  which  I 
visited,  and  to  whom  I  was  indebted  for  many  pleas 
ant  hours. 

It  was  a  very  interesting  period  in  my  life.  I  was 
introduced  into  the  ways  of  society,  especially  New 
England  society,  under  the  best  auspices  calculated  to 
make  me  pleased  with  this  human  drama,  in  which  we 
are  engaged,  attracted  by  what  is  good,  and  not  af 
fected  by  any  of  that  morbid  sensibility  which  so  of 
ten  does  affect  those  who  meet  society  under  disagree 
able  circurL  stances. 

There  also,  I  received  my  first  political  ideas,  and 
they  have  remained  to  this  day  little  changed  by  the 
passage  of  time  and  events.  I  will  relate  the  polit 
ical  condition  of  things,  then,  because  part  of  it  is 
unwritten  history,  which,  if  you  do  not  get  in  this 
way,  you  will  not  get  at  all. 

In  the  winter  of  1819-1820,  the  reader  will  see  by 
the  public  history,  began  the  agitation  of  what  was 
called  the  "  Missouri  Question."  Missouri,  then  a 
territory,  was  part  of  the  original  Territory  of  Lou 
isiana,  acquired  by  treaty  with  France.  It  was  en 
tirely  and  exclusively  national  domain.  Its  settlers 
had  introduced  slaves.  When  it  applied,  at  this  time, 
for  admission  into  the  Union,  objection  was  made  to 
slavery  ;  and  it  was  moved  in  Congress  to  exclude  and 
forbid  slavery  from  the  new  states.  Of  course,  this 
was  supported  by  the  Northern  people,  who  foresaw 
clearly,  that  if  DO  "restriction  was  placed  upon  slavery, 
every  new  state  was  likely  to  come  in  writh  that  insti 
tution,  and  slavery  become  dominant  in  this  country. 
This  was  not  the  beginning  of  the  Abolition  agita- 


Personal  Memories.  85 

tion  ;  but  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  political  con 
troversy.  The  Abolition  question  had  begun  with 
the  very  beginning  of  the  Constitution.  My  father, 
Dr.  Rush,  and  Dr.  Franklin,  with  the  whole  Society 
of  Friends,  had  petitioned  Congress  for  abolition  thirty 
years  before.  You  will  find  that  fact  and  the  debates 
upon  it  in  the  records  of  Congress,  and  set  forth  in 
Benton's  Debates  in  the  Senate.  Those  petitions  were, 
even  in  the  first  sessions  of  Congress,  received  with 
disgust,  and  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Southern  repre 
sentatives.  But  the  first  political  agitation  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  arose  on  the  Missouri  Question,  in 
1819-1820.  I  received  my  ideas  upon  it  then,  and,  as 
they  were  more  and  more  confirmed  in  after  years,  I 
will  anticipate  a  little  to  show  you  how  they  af 
fected  my  after  political  conduct.  I  was  afterward  a 
great  admirer  and  disciple  of  DANIEL  WEBSTER.  My 
ideas  of  Constitutional  Powers  were  derived  from 
him.  We  went  along  together  until  1850,  when  Mr. 
Webster,  as  a  Whig  Conservative,  and  yet  a  Northern 
man,  was  surrounded  with  great  difficulties.  On  the 
7th  of  March,  1850,  he  made  a  speech  in  the  Senate, 
in  which  he  undertook  to  get  rid  of  the  question  by 
climatic  laws.  He  said  it  wns  unnecessary  to  restrict 
slavery  in  New  Mexico,  California!!,  etc.,  because, 
it  never  could  prevail  there,  on  account  of  cli 
mate,  soil,  etc.  In  other  words,  he  was  unequal  to 
treating  the  subject  on  that  high,  moral,  and  social 
ground,  upon  which  alone  it  could  be  properly  treated. 
In  the  slang  of  the  day,  he  "  dodged "  the  question 
both  morally  and  politically.  From  that  day,  I  never 
walked  with  Mr.  Webster.  He  was  a  great  man,  of 
whom  I  shall  speak  hereafter,  but  not  great  in  that 


86  Personal  Memories. 

superior  and  higher  sphere  of  intellectual  liberty  in 
which  must  he  discussed  all  questions  of  Christian 
morals  and  human  freedom.  I  have  anticipated  this 
much,  because  my  first  ideas  on  slavery  were  received 
while  I  was  at  Farmington.  The  Missouri  Question 
was  then  on  hand,  and  it  was  the  popular  and  excit 
ing  theme  of  the  day.  I,  you  see,  was  visiting  in  the 
family  of  and  instructed  by  a  distinguished  statesman 
of  the  old  Federal  school.  I  was  in  a  part  of  New 
England  where  people  were  of  the  primitive  stock, 
and  who  looked  upon  the  Southern  people  with  jeal 
ousy,  and  upon  slavery  with  abhorrence.  I  was  a 
youth  easily  impressed  with  the  opinions  of  my 
friends  ;  but,  in  this  instance,  they  were  also  the  opin 
ions  of  my  mother — it  is  more  than  probable  that  she 
had  more  influence  than  all  others.  It  was  then,  I  have 
said,  the  Missouri  Question  arose,  which  was  simply 
whether  slavery  should  be  excluded  not  only  in  Missouri, 
but  from  all  the  territories.  The  parties  in  it  were  then , 
as  they  have  since  been,  the  North  and  the  South.  In 
the  Senate  the  South  prevailed.  In  the  House  the 
North.  The  result  was  a  compromise,  which  remained 
nearly  forty  years.  Missouri  was  admitted  with  slavery ; 
but  it  was  excluded  from  all  the  territories  north  of  36° 
30'  of  latitude.  This  compromise  was  exceedingly 
unpopular  in  the  North,  and  hated  in  New  England. 
It  was  only  carried  by  the  desertion  of  six  members 
from  the  North.  Three  of  them  happened  to  be  from 
the  State  of  Connecticut,  and  nothing  could  exceed  the 
popular  excitement  upon  that  occasion.  The  three 
members  were  burnt  in  effigy  at  various  places,  and 
popular  indignation  rose  against  them ;  and  my 
Farmington  friends  were  bitter  in  their  denunciation. 


Personal  Memories.  87 

This  brings  me  to  one  of  the  unwritten  facts  of  our 
iiistory,  which  is,  nevertheless;  as  true  as  any  recorded. 
The  flame  of  the  anti-slavery  agitation  then  kindled 
never  went  out.  The  public  attention '  was  diverted. 
Other  public  events  absorbed  the  public  mind.  Presi 
dential  candidates  were  discussed ;  but,  underneath 
them  all,  quietly  burning  in  many  hearts,  was  the  de 
termination  that  slavery  should  be  destroyed.  The 
tariff  question  soon  arose,  but  that  was  largely  a  ques 
tion  of  money.  Then  nullification,  when  South  Car 
olina  showed  her  teeth  against  the  Union.  Then,  in 
1837,  came  the  great  discussion  on  the  rights  of  peti 
tion,  but  I  need  not  recite  after  events.  The  careful 
reader  of  history  will  see  that  the  anti-slavery  senti 
ment  continued  to  grow  from  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  until  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  The  fires,  smoth 
ered  for  a  time,  never  went  out,  until  they  burst 
forth  into  irrepressible  flames.  No  one,  but  one  present 
at  the  time,  can  tell  how  bitter  was  the  feeling  of  New 
England  against  Southern  slavery.  But  that  time  is 
past,  and  all  its  feelings,  excitements,  and  doings  have 
entered  into  the  shades  of  that  history,  of  which  shad 
ows  alone  will  remain. 

The  time  had  now  come  for  me  to  leave  Farming- 
ton.  My  sleigh-rides,  my  parties,  my  pleasant  visits, 
and,  alas !  my  pleasant  friends,  were  to  be  left  forever. 
My  path  lay  in  different  and  sometimes  far  less  pleasant 
scenes.  I  well  remember  the  bright  morning  on  which 
I  stood  on  Mr.  Pitkin's  step,  bidding  farewell  to  my 
kind  and  gentle  friend,  Mary  Pitkin.  Married  and 
moved  away,  she  soon  bid  farewell  to  this  world, 
where  she  seemed,  like  the  morning  flower,  too  frail 
and  too  gentle  to  survive  the  frost  and  the  storm. 


88  Personal  Memories. 

In  May,  1820,  I  returned  to  my  father's  home,  at 
West  Point,  to  complete  my  preparations  for  Prince 
ton  College.  I  recited  Xenophon  to  my  father,  and 
the  Greek  Testament  to  our  next-door  neighbor,  the 
I\ev.  Mr.  Picion.  He  was  the  chaplain  at  West 
Point,  and  one  of  my  earliest  and  best  friends. 
He  was  a  Welchman  by  birth,  but  had  come  to  this 
country  quite  young;  and,  before  coming  to  West 
Point,  was  minister  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Westfield,  New  Jersey.  There  he  had  been  rather  ob 
scure,  with  a  salary  of  only  $500  a  year.  How  he 
came  to  be  appointed  at  West  Point  I  never  knew,  for 
he  was  not  an  eloquent  preacher,  although  a  very  good 
scholar.  In  the  forenoon  of  the  summer  of  1820,  I 
used  to  go  to  Mr.  Picton's  study  and  recite.  I  think 
nothing  ever  did  give  me  so  much  trouble  in  studying 
as  some  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  It  is  difficult  to  under 
stand  some  of  his  phrases,  even  in  English,  and  more 
difficult  in  Greek.  There  has  been,  I  think,  too  much 
literalness  in  the  translation,  and  I  can  easily  imagine 
that  good  scholars  might  make  a  simpler  version  than 
we  now  have.  In  the  afternoon  I  would  read  Xeno 
phon  to  my  father,  who,  I  may  here  say,  was  one  of 
the  best  scholars  of  his  day.  Toward  evening,  I 
would  run  down  to  the  river,  or  up  to  "  Old  Fort  Put.," 
on  whose*  rock-built  battlements  I  would  often  stand 
alone,  and  gaze  with  delight  on  that  unequaled  scene, 
where  the  dark  mountain,  the  deep  river,  and  the  blue 
skies  seemed  to  mingle  together  on  the  indefinable 
horizon  of  nature.  I  think  it  was  that  summer  when 
Mrs.  Minor,  of  Virginia,  came  to  the  Point,  where  she 
had  a  son,  with  letters,  I  think,  to  my  father.  At  any 
rate,  she  was  at  our  house.  She  had  a  daughter  with 


Personal  Memories.  89 

her,  who,  notwithstanding  all  my  partiality  for  the 
Farmington  girls,  seemed  to  me  more  like  some  starry 
vision  from  enchanted  land.  She  was  really  beautiful, 
and  beauty  is  a  power  over  all  hearts.  She  was  lively, 
and  evidently  amiable.  All  this,  perhaps,  I  should 
not  have  known,  but  that  I  was  almost  the  only  young 
man  at  the  Point  disengaged  from  all  duties,  and, 
therefore  by  necessity  her  beau.  I  took  long  walks 
with  her,  especially  one  to  "  Old  Fort  Put.,"  descant 
ing,  of  course,  on  the  poetic  and  unrivaled  beauties 
of  that  scene.  I  quoted  the  Lady  of  the  Lake,  and 
to  the  purpose,  too  : 

"And  mountains  that  like  giants  stand, 
To  sentinel  enchanted  land. 
High  in  the  East,  huge  Break-Neck 
D.)wn  the  river  in  masses  threw 
Crags,  knolls,  and  mounds,  confusedly  hurled, 
The  fragments  of  an  earlier  world." 

The  two  or  three  days  Miss  Minor  was  with  us, 
were  to  me  another  glance  at  paradise — but  Paradise 
Lost.  I  never  saw  her  again,  although  I  often  heard 
of  her  good  work,  and  believe  she  is  still  alive. 

In  the  evenings  of  that  summer,  I  often  dropped  in, 
as  they  say,  to  see  our  neighbor,  Mr.  Picton,  although 
quite  .naturally,  one  of  my  attractions  was  Miss  Mary 
Picton.  She  was  a  friend  of  my  sisters  and  a  favorite 
with  my  mother.  She  also  was  very  pretty  and  very 
amiable.  At  that  time — all  the  beaus  that  West  Point 
could  furnish,  and  I  was  one,  were  fluttering  around 
her  evening  levees.  I  was  not  as  much  pleased  with  her 
as  Miss  Minor,  or  with  two  or  three  of  the  Farmington 
girls,  yet  she  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  lovely 
young  women  I  ever  saw.  Her  praises  were  in  the 


90  Personal  Memories. 

mouths  of  all  her  friends,  and  it  was  with  no  little  sor 
row  I  heard  of  her  early  death.  She  married  Edwin 
Stevens,  who  recently  died  one  of  the  wealthiest  men 
in  this  country.  It  was  a  happy  marriage,  and  when 
we  see  such  lovely  women  cut  off  so  early,  when  they 
could  live  so  happy  and  so  well,  we  wonder  at  the  in 
scrutable  ways  of  Providence ;  but,  there  will  be  some 
time  a  rolling  up  of  its  veil,  when  all  the  acts  of 
Providence  will  be  as  clear  and  as  beautiful  as  the 
skies  when  the  darkest  clouds  have  rolled  away. 

I  must  reture  to  Mr.  Picton.  For  some  reason,  I 
believe  because  he  was  not  thought  an  eloquent 
preacher,  Mr.  Picton  left  West  Point.  He  next  became 
a  teacher  in  a  Female  Seminary,  in  New  York.  I 
afterward  went  to  see  him.  Several  years  before  that, 
an  old  village  called  "  Greenwich  "  was  near,  but  en- 
entirely  disconnected  from  the  city  of  New  York. 
When  I  went  to  visit  Mr.  Picton,  I  found  he  was  on 
Christopher  street,  and  on  inquiry  found  it  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  city,  but  the  street  seemed  old  and 
the  houses  brown  and  shabby.  I  wondered  at  it,  and 
asked  Mr.  Picton  what  it  meant.  Said  he,  "  Do  n't  you 
know  where  you  are  ? "  "  No,"  said  I.  "  Why,  you 
are  in  old  Greenwich."  Then  I  found,  as  characteris 
tic  of  our  country,  that  in  a  half  dozen  years  the  city 
of  New  York  had  so  rapidly  grown  as  to  envelope 
Greenwich. 

In  a  pleasant  conversation  I  had  with  my  old  friend, 
I  asked  him  how  he  liked  being  a  teacher  in  a  Female 
Seminary.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  very  well.  I  lived  under 
civil  and  under  military  government,  under  ecclesiasti 
cal  and  under  petticoat  government,  and,  on  the  whole, 
I  like  petticoat  government  the  best."  When  Mary 


Personal  Memories.  91 

was  married  to  Mr.  Stevens,  Mr.  Picton  went  to  their 
residence,  on.  Hobokeii  Heights,  where  I  again  went  to 
see  him.  It  was  the  only  point  from  which  I  ever  saw, 
or,  I  believe,  afforded,  a  perfect  panoramic  view  of  the 
splendid  city  and  harbor  of  NQW  York.  From  that 
point,  the  scene  below  is  unsurpassed  by  anything  seen 
by  mortal  vision.  At  last  my  friend  passed  away  in 
the  peaceful  decline  and  peaceful  end  of  a  sincere, 
an  upright,  and  a  happy  Christian. 


92  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Princeto  n —  College  Life — Professors — Lin  dsley —  Greene 
— Miller — A lexa n  der —  Hodge— My  Classmn tes —  Sen- 
ator  Pearce — Professor  Dod  ;  Richardson — The  Phi 
losophy  of  Ideas ;  Witherspoon — Chesterfield. 

I  AM  writing  this  chapter  under  the  shadow  of 
Beacon  Hill,  one  of  the  principal  scenes  in  Cooper's 
novel,  "  The  Spy."  It  is  historical  ground,  and  every 
mountain  and  vale  around  is  associated  with  the_still 
vivid  history  of  the  Revolution.  Through  the  High 
lands,  the  Hudson,  as  if  by  force,  bursts  its  way.  Ac 
cording  to  the  average  of  human  life,  nearly  two 
generations  have  gone  since  I  first  saw  the  Hudson. 
I  lived  on  its  banks  for  several  years,  and  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1820,  as  I  have  said,  was  preparing  for  Prince 
ton  College.  I  read  the  Greek  Testament  with'  my 
friend  Air.  Picton,  and  Xenophon  with  my  father; 
and  in  September  was  admitted  to  the  junior  class  at 
Nassau  Hall.  I  was  more  than  prepared  in  mathe 
matics,  but  deficient  in  Greek.  Mr.  Lin  dsley,  profes 
sor  of  languages,  said  I  might  make  it  up  by  extra 
study.  This  I  did.  I  was  conscientious,  and  took 
everything  literally,  which  I  have  found  would,  in  the 
present  age  of  the  world,  be  a  great  mistake.  With 
hard  work,  I  had  accomplished  before  January  six 
books  of  Homer.  When  I  came  to  Mr.  Lindsley  to 
be  examined,  he  said  :  "  Pooh  !  pooh  !  It  ?s  no  matter." 
The  truth  is,  he  had  found  me  to  be  the  best  student 


Personal  Memories.  93 


in  the  class — not  the  hardest  worker  in  the  classics, 
but  the  best  general  student.  Those  six  books  of 
Homer  were  totally  unnecessary.  Still,  the  classics 
were  always  more  or  less  of  a  burden  to  me,  simply 
because  I  had  not  begun  them  early  enough.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  the  study  of  languages  should  be  begun 
in  childhood.  Children  learn  language  not  by  reason, 
but  by  imitation.  Hence  the  study  of  language  by 
the  Hamiltonian  method,  of  reading  before  studying 
grammar,  is  probably  the  best.  But  to  make  it  so,  the 
study  of  languages  should  be  begun  in  early  child 
hood.  As  I  grew  older,  abstract  reasoning  became 
easy  and  pleasant,  but  the  study  of  languages  still  re 
mained  difficult.  In  saying  this,  I  do  n't  mean  the 
study  of  literature,  but  the  study  of  words  and  gram 
mar.  Literature  is  gained  best  by  the  reading  of  the 
best  authors.  That  reading  will  seldom  be  done  with 
out  a  taste  for  it.  I  had  that  taste  from  the  day  I 
learned  to  read,  and  while  in  Princeton  College  en 
joyed  some  happy  hours  in  reading,  but  those  hours 
were  few  and  far  between,  because  to  one,  like  mj^self, 
determined  to  stand  high  in  his  class,  the  college 
studies  were  quite  severe.  Upon  the  whole,  my  two 
years  in  Princeton  College  were  years  of  the  hardest 
work  I  ever  did.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Lindsley  and  I 
got  on  capitally  together,  not  only  during  my  time  at 
college,  but  in  after  years,  when  he  continued  my  firm 
friend. 

Philip  Lindsley  was  a  man  of  fine  mind,  of  broad 
scholarship,  of  liberal  views,  and  of  better  acquaintance 
with  the  world  than  is  possessed  by  most  college  men. 
He  was  rather  eccentric  in  manner,  and  not  at  all 
given  to  the  prirn  ways  of  presidents  and  tutors.  Per- 


94  Personal  Memories. 

haps  for  that  reason  he  was  much  loved  by  the  students. 
He  was  in  Princeton  College  professor  of  belles-lettres, 
as  well  as  of  languages,  and  afterward  president  of 
Nashville  University. 

Strange  to  say,  that  while  my  life  has  been  largely 
spent  in  the  cultivation  of  letters,  yet  it  was  the  hard 
est  study  I  had  at  Princeton.  Reading,  I  was  accus 
tomed  to — writing, not  at  all.  Still  less  was  I  used  to 
that  critical  analysis  which  is  necessary  to  the  proper 
understanding  of  the  finest  elements  of  language — 
the  right  use  of  words  and  expression  of  thought. 
This  study  was  difficult  to  me,  but  in  after-times  was 
of  incalculable  value.  For  my  facility  in  writing  I 
am  indebted  to  Princeton  College,  and  have  less  regret 
for  time  misused  there  than  for  that  of  any  other 
period  of  my  life.  I  wrorked  hard,  and  I  received  the 
reward  of  my  work.  I  need  not  describe  college  life ; 
it  varies  little  the  world  over.  The  morning  prayers ; 
the  day  recitations  ;  the  Greek  of  Homer;  the  criticism 
of  Longinus;  the  Odes  of  Horace  ;  the  demonstrations 
of  mathematics  ;  the  analysis  of  chemistry ;  hydrocyanic 
acid  ;  electricity  ;  magnetism  ;  the  speeches  at  evening 
prayers  ;  the  Sunday  exercise  on  the  Bible  ;  and  all 
the  varied  and  continued  employment  of  a  student, 
made  up  my  daily  life  in  one  of  the  most  rigid 
and  disciplined  institutions  in  America.  It  is  true 
that  some  of  the  students  managed  to  get  through  the 
course  with  little  labor  and  less  thought,  in  that  super 
ficial  and  careless  manner  which  makes  a  collegiate 
life  almost,  if  not  altogether,  useless.  But  to  me,  my 
two  years  of  college  lite  involved  hard  work,  and  left 
me  with  less  strength  than  when  I  began.  Indeed, 
the  winter  previous  to  my  graduation  I  was  quite  out 


Personal  Memories.  95 

of  health,  and  recovered  in  the  spring  only  by  my  de 
termination  to  take  regular  exercise,  which  saved  me, 
and  might  save  thousands  of  others,  from  an  untimely 
grave. 

Passing  over  the  incidents  of  college  life,  I  will 
mention  some  of  the  men  I  saw  there — some  of  them 
among  the  most  remarkable  of  their  day.  Nassau 
Hall— legally  the  College  of  New  Jersey— had  been 
founded,  at  Princeton,  about  one  hundred  years  before 
I  went  there,  by  Presbyterians  of  the  straitest  sect — 
men  who  were  memorable  in  the  history  of  the  State 
and  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  As  successive 
classes  graduated  at  Princeton,  its  alumni  made  their 
mark  upon  the  mind  of  the  country,  and,  in  some  de 
gree,  upon  that  of  the  world.  James  Madison — per 
haps  the  most  enlightened  of  our  presidents — gradu 
ated  at  Princeton  ;  and  if  the  reader  will  examine  the 
triennial  catalogue,  he  will  find  that  prior  to  1840,  a 
large  number  of  senators  and  statesmen  were  educated 
at  Princeton.  The  Southern  States  had  then  scarcely 
any  institutions  of  repute,  and  sent  many  of  their 
young;  men  to  Nassau  Hall.  There  was  also  at  Prince- 

«/  o 

ton  a  Theological  Seminary,  founded  a  few  years  be 
fore  I  was  there,  and  already  distinguished,  and  which 
has  been  since  the  source  of  much  of  the  theology  as 
well  as  polemic  controversy  in  the  country.  Its  pro 
fessors  were  men  who  impressed  themselves  upon  the 
mind  of  the  church,  and  that  influence  still  continues. 
The  late  Charles  Hodge  was  then  tutor,  and  became 
afterward  professor  and  doctor  of  divinity.  For  half  a 
century,  in  the  Assemblies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
and  in  the  columns  of  the  Princeton  Review,  and  in 
the  teaching  of  students,  Dr.  Hodge  has  been  a  lead- 


96  Personal  Memories. 

ing  theologian  of  the  Calvinistic  school,  and  of  wide 
and  permanent  influence  upon  the  rising  clergymen 
of  the  day.  Dr.  Miller,  who  had  been  a  writer  of 
some  reputation,  was  then  professor  of  ecclesiastical 
history  and  church  government.  I  knew  little  of 
him  or  of  his  family,  except  that  they  were  very 
handsome  people.  There  are  not  so  many  hand 
some  people  in  the  world,  that  they  can  pass  un 
noticed.  I  know  that  Ovid  says  "  Os  liomini  sublime 
dedit,"  but  it  has  not  been  my  fortune  to  see  many 
evidences  of  the  sublime,  much  less  of  absolute  beauty 
in  the  human  countenance.  I  can  imagine  that  man 
was  once  a  beautiful  animal,  but  among  the  innumer 
able  evidences  of  the  fall,  may  be  counted  the  sin- 
convicted,  care-worn  faces  one  meets  in  every  class  of 
life.  I  used  often  to  meet  Dr.  Miller  and  his  daughter, 
in  my  daily  walk  upon  the  streets.  Both  father  and 
daughter  were  erect,  of  regular  features,  and  blooming, 
ruddy  complexions.  It  was  said  in  college,  that  one 
of  the  students,  himself  a  handsome  young  man,  had 
fallen  in  love  with  Miss  Miller,  and  used  to  sa}7  lisp- 
ingly :  "  The  heighth  of  my  ambithion  is  Miss  Mar 
garet  Miller  !"  Whether  so  or  not,  such  ambition  was 
not  to  be  gratified,  for  she  married  my  tutor,  the  well- 
known  John  Breckenrid^e.  The  man  Avho  at  that 
time  exerted  the  most  religious  influence  at  Princeton, 
and  since  then,  also,  through  his  Distinguished  sons, 
was  Professor  Alexander.  The  theological  professors 
used  to  preach  in  the  college  chapel,  and  I  have  often 
heard  Dr.  Alexander.  A  plainer,  simpler,  or  more 
unpretending  man  you  can  scarcely  find.  To  all  ap 
pearance — for  1  did  not  talk  with  him — he  was  the 
very  man  to  represent  in  this  age  the  plainness  and 


Personal  Memories.  97 

simplicity  of  the  apostles.  I  was  not  struck  with  his 
preaching,  for  he  had  no  brilliancy  and  no  artificial 
rhetoric.  He  entered  the  pulpit,  plain  in  garb  and 
manner,  and  taking  his  text,  talked  on  without  form 
nnd  without  uttering  anything  but  the  simple  truth. 
I  think  he  was  not,  with  the  students,  a  popular 
preacher,  but  the  weight  of  his  character,  the  sim 
plicity  of  his  manner,  and  the  naked  truth  of  his  doc 
trines  produced  then,  as  such  qualities  ever  will,  a 
profound  influence  upon  the  institution  with  which  he 
was  connected  and  the  generation  in  which  he  lived. 
I  believe  he  wras  quite  a  learned  man,  and  is  said  to 
have  read  a  great  deal,  and  was  acquainted  with  all 
modern  books.  Some  one  said  to  him  :  "  Dr.  Alex 
ander,  how  do  you  manage  to  read  so  many  books  ?" 
He  replied  :  "  I  do  not  read  them  through.  I  have 
learned  to  read  only  what  is  valuable.  I  look  at  the 
index,  turn  the  pages  rapidly,  and  by  a  glance  at  the 
paragraphs,  can  tell  whether  I  want  them."  I  have 
done  the  same  thing,  and  thought  it  a  good  suggestion. 
In  reading  some  novels  lately,  I  found  I  could  finish 
one  in  an  afternoon  or  evening,  and  yet  get  all  that 
was  interesting  in  the  book.  Why  should  one  be  com 
pelled  to  read  the  crudities  of  a  novelist  or  the  criti 
cisms  of  a  historian;  or  why  should  one  be  obliged  to 
wade  through  a  mass  of  facts  and  thoughts  he  already 
knows,  to  get  at  a  few  things  he  does  not  know  ?  The 
impress  of  Dr.  Alexander  upon  the  country  has,  I . 
think,  been  greater  than  that  of  some  renowned  states 
men. 

Dr.  ASIIBEL  GREEN  was  then  president  of  the  col 
lege,  and  a  very  able  one  he  was,  though  never  very 
popular;  but  he  was  better  than  that,  very  success- 


f)8  Personal  Memories. 

ful.  The  president  of  a  college  does  not  need  to  be  a 
very  eloquent  or  very  learned  man.  He  needs  to  be 
dignified,  impressive,  and  executive.  He  is,  in  fact,  the 
executive  officer.  Dr.- Green  was,  in  all  these  particu 
lars,  admirably  adapted  to  his  place.  He  had  been  a 
chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  I  think,  under 
Washington.  lie  had  good  address,  and  was  a  fine 
elocutionist.  The  actors,  it  was  said,  came  sometimes 
to  study  his  manner.  At  the  time  I  was  in  college 
he  had  evidently  less  power  and  less  ambition  than 
he  once  had.  Yet  his  Bacchalaureate  addresses  were 
very  fine.  He  was  a  good  classical  writer,  and  one 
of  his  discourses  was  the  best  of  its  kind  I  ever 
heard.  It  was  on  "False  Honor."  It  was  strong 
in  satire,  truth,  and  eloquence.  Dr.  Green  resigned 
when  I  graduated,  although  he  lived  many  years  af 
terward  and  became  quite  an  old  man.  One  of  his 
sons  was  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  college ;  an 
other  was  an  eminent  lawyer  of  New  Jersey;  and  the 
other  day  I  was  introduced  to  his  grandson,  an  emi 
nent  lawyer  of  New  York. 

Of  my  classmates  I  need  say  but  little.  One  of 
them  was  ALBERT  DOD,  afterward  professor  of  mathe 
matics  in  the  college,  a  man  of  genius  and  of  worth. 
Another  w?as  JAMES  McCoRMiCK,  my  room-mate,  a  dis 
tinguished  lawyer  of  Harrisburg,  now  dead.  An 
other  was  JAMES  ALFRED  PEARCE,  of  Maryland,  long 
a  representative  and  senator  in  congress  from  his 
state,  and  one  of  the  best  that  state  ever  had.  A 
fourth  was  KICHARDSON,  attorney  general  of  Mary 
land.  Of  many  I  have  known  nothing  since. 

At  length  the  time  came  for  me  to  graduate.  At 
Princeton  they  divide  the  distinguished  graduates  into 


Personal  Memories.  99 

what  are  called  "  Honors,"  sometimes  several  having1 
the  same  "Honor."  The  first  "  Honor"  was  given  to 
me,  Mr.  Pearce,  and  Mr.  Mearns,  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  afterward  became  a  clergyman.  I  believe  the 
idea  was  that  Mearns  was  best  in  the  classics,  Mr. 
Pearce  in  belles-lettres,  and  myself  in  science.  It  be 
came  my  lot  to  speak  the  Latin  salutatory,  as  it  is 
called.  You  may  depend  I  was  puzzled,  for  this  was 
not  my  forte,  and  I  scarcely  knew  what  to  do. 

It  was  not  uncommon — on  the  contrary  quite  com 
mon — for  the  students  to  get  their  commencement 
orations  written  by  others,  and  pay  for  them ;  but 
that  did  not  suit  me.  So  I  went  home  and  went  to 
work.  '  I  wrote  a  good  oration  in  English,  and  then 
translated  it  into  Latin,  and  finally  my  father,  than 
whom  I  never  knew  a  better  scholar,  wrote  the  ex 
ordium  and  peroration,  and  you  may  depend  they  had 
the  ore  rotundo.  When  I  came  to  speak  it  I  was  in 
fear  and  trembling.  But  I  had  one  comfort,  that  if  I 
happened  to  make  a  mistake  or  stumble  not  a  soul  in 
the  audience  would  know  what  it  was  about.  In 
looking  back  upon  it,  I  think  that  to  write  a  Latin 
oration,  commit  it  to  memory,  and  speak  it  without  a 
blunder  to  a  great  audience  of  learned  men  and  bright 
women,  is,  in  relation  to  his  capacity,  equal  to  one  of 
the  labors  of  Hercules.  I  got  through  quite  credita 
bly,  and  returned  home  with  my  honors  fresh  upon 
me.  I  left  Princeton  without  much  regret  or  affec 
tion.  But  I  have  since  learned  to  regard  it  more 
highly,  for  I  have  learned  that  it  was  one  of  the  first  > 
institutions  in  the  country  where  pure  and  undefiled  j 
religion — the  religion  of  the  cross — was  taught  with 
out  any  mixture  with  the  false  philosophies  or  they 


100  Personal  Memories. 

corruptions  of  the  world.  There  I  received,  perhaps 
not  the  first,  but  the  strongest  of  my  religious  im 
pressions.  They  have  never  left  me,  nor  has  the  con 
viction  tliat  those  doctrines  which  are  commonly  un 
derstood  as  Calvinistic,  are  the  real  doctrines  of  the 
cross,  as  interpreted  by  St.  Paul,  and  now  preached 
in  the  Evangelical  churches.  I  have  heard  them 
preached  in  the  Episcopal  pulpits,  as  they  have  never 
been  preached  by  Presbyterian  ministers,  and  I  will 
say  here  that,  notwithstanding  the  outcry  about  secta 
rianism,  I  never  heard  Presbyterianism,  as  such, 
preached  at  Princeton  College.  The  doctrines  of 
Alexander,  Miller,  Green,  and  Lindsley,  were  those  of 
the  Evangelical  Church,  preached  in  earnestness  of 
v  spirit  and  simplicity  of  style. 

I  returned  home  by  stage  to  New  Brunswick,  and 
by  steamboat  to  New  York.  So,  you  will  understand, 
that  at  that  time  there  was  not  a  mile  of  railroad  in 
the  United  States,  nor  was  there  any  railroad  of  im 
portance  in  the  next  ten  years.  It  seems  but  yester 
day  since  the  first  train  of  cars  began  to  run,  and 
now  there  are  in  this  country  80,000  miles  of  railroad, 
half  of  all  upon  the  earth.  Such  has  been,  and  is, 
the  extraordinary  range  and  whirling  progress  of  this, 
our  country. 

I  remained  at  home  the  next  ten  months,  and 
went  to  Litchfield  in  1823,  in  the  month  of  June. 
Those  ten  months  at  home  was  one  of  the  happiest, 
and  to  myself  most  profitable,  periods  of  my  life  ; 
and  yet,  you  will  see  that,  practically,  as  people  so 
often  speak,  it  was  of  no  use.  It  was  this  :  It  had 
been  decided  that  I  was  to  be  a  lawyer,  and,  as  I 
was  to  spend  some  months  at  home,  I  marked  out 


Personal  Memories.  101 


for  myself  a  course  of  reading  which  I  supposed 
to  be  iutroductive  to  the  law.  I  read  Hume's  "  En- 
glaudt'.L.Yattors  "Laws  of  Nations,"  Rutherford's 
"Institutes,"  and  intermixed  it  all  with  Madame  de 
Stael's  "  Germany,"  and  other  French  works.  Of 
course  I  read  Mrs.  Radcliff's  and  Jane  Porter's  novels. 
I  liked  Hume  and  Yattel,  but  I  reveled  in  the  "  Scot 
tish  Chiefs,"  "The  Romance  of  the  Forest,"  "The 
Mysteries  of  Udolpho,"  and  those  wonderful  sensa 
tions  which  creep  upon  you  as  you  walk  at  midnight 
through  the  long  corridors,  hear  the  rattling  of  chains, 
and  see  the  sheeted  ghosts  pass  before  you  ?  I  never 
despised  such  things,  for  sure  I  am  that  they  are  more 
entertaining,  and,  I  believe,  more  useful,  than  modern 
philosophy,  for  they  lead  the  mind  from  the  dull  cares 
of  this  earth  to  the  dreams  of  joy,  without  debas 
ing  the  intellect  and  without  poisoning  the  soul. 

I  said  these  studies  and  readings  were  not 
practically  useful,  and  they  were  not,  for  in  the 
practical  affairs  of  life  nothing  is  useful  but  what 
pertains  to  the  business  of  the  hour.  When  I 
think  of  these  studies  I  think  of  Chesterfield's  re 
mark  to  Mr.  Harris,  on  his  entering  parliament. 

Harris  was  an  elegant  writer  on  grammar  and  phi 
losophy.  He  had  written  "  Hermes,"  one  of  the  most 
analytical  and  instructive  works  on  the  theory  of  gram 
mar.  Finally  he  was  elected  to  parliament.  When  there 
he  was  introduced  to  Chesterfield,  who  said  to  him  : 
"Mr.  Harris,  you  have  written  books?  You  have  writ 
ten  on  grammar  and  philosophy."  "  Yes,  my  Lord." 
"  Well,  sir,  what  the  devil  has  grammar  and  philoso 
phy  to  do  with  the  British  Parliament?"1  "Sure 

1  Adams'  Correspondence. 


102*  Personal  Memories. 

enough  ;  and  what  have  they  to  do  with  the  American 
Congress?"  Chesterfield  drew  at  once  the  distinction 
between  mere  men  of  business  and  men  who  are 
merely  men  of  letters  and  of  science.  I  said  my 
reading  in  1823  was  not  practically  useful,  and  yet  it 
was  useful  in  the  highest  sense.  It  gave  me  a  wide 
Held  of  interesting  thoughts,  and  strengthened  my  mind 
for  other  pursuits. 

Connected  with  the  men  and  teachings  of  every 
college — especially  of  the  old  colleges — are  its  tradi 
tions.  From  class  to  class;  and  generation  to  gener 
ation,  come  down  certain  stories  of  men  and  ideas 
and  customs,  which  illustrate  the  tones  and  ideas  of 
those  days.  I  will  mention  one  or  two,  because  they 
are  connected  at  least  by  contrast  with  some  ideas 
prevalent  in  the  present  time.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  Revolution,  Dr,  Witherspoon  was  president  of  the 
college.  He  was  a  great  patriot,  entered  congress, 
and  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was 
a  Scotchman  hy  birth,  and  a  man  of  strong  common 
sense,  as  well  as  sound  principles.  At  that  time  the 
Berkleian  theory  of  ideas  was  fashionable,  which  as 
sumed  that  all  external  existences  were  ideal,  and  all 
objecrs  were  ideal.  It  was  so  much  more  dominant 
than  materialism  is  now,  that  almost  all  the  professors 
and  students  adopted  it.  It  is  said,  that  Dr.  Wither 
spoon,  finding  it  impossible  to  reason  upon  this  subject 
logically  with  people  whose  minds  were  on  fire  with 
the  ideal  theory,  entered  the  class-room  one  morning, 
and,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  said :  "  Young 
gentlemen,  if  you  think  there  is  nothing  but  ideas  in 
the  world,  just  go  out  on  the  campus  and  butt  your 
beads  against  the  college  walls  !  You  will  at  least 


Personal  Memories.  103 

get  an  idea  of  matter."  On  another  occasion,  it  is 
said,  the  students  were  at  supper — then,  as  now,  at 
long  tables,  with  a  tutor  presiding  at  each.  There 
was  one  student  of  the  senior  class  who  did  not  be 
lieve  in  the  theory  of  ideas.  They  had  hot  mush  and 
milk  for  supper,  when  all  at  once  this  student  uttered 
a  dreadful  cry.  Everybody  started  up  to  know  what 
was  the  matter.  The  student  said  :  "  Mr.  Tutor,  I  ask 
your  pardon.  I  have  just  swallowed  a  red-hot  idea  !" 
I  do  not  say  that  such  traditions  as  these  are  liter 
ally  true  ;  but  I  do  say  that  they  prove  that  different 
fashions  of  mind,  as  well  as  body  and  manners,  pre 
vail  in  different  generations.  While  philosophy  has 
neither  limits  nor  foundations,  and  there  are  none,  un 
less  the  philosophy  of  Christianity  be  accepted,  it 
must  ever'be  the  creature  of  imagination,  of  theory, 
of  wild  and  exaggerated — however  beautiful — dreams. 
The  philosophy  which  assumes  that  ajl  is  ideal,  is  cer 
tainly  as  acceptable  and  as  probable  as  that  which  as 
sumes  that  all  is  matter.  The  philosophy  which  as 
sumes  that  there  is  a  God,  and  He  governs  this  uni 
verse  by  His  will,  whether  it  be  by  natural  or  super 
natural  laws,  is  certainly  as  probable  as  that  matter 
made  itself,  and  then  holds  itself  together.  The  fash 
ion  of  this  world  passeth  away. 


104  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Again  at  West  Point— Beading,  History,  ami  Interna 
tional  Law — A  Party — Distinguished  Visitors — De 
Witt  Clinton  — Dr.  Mitchell  —  Eliza  Leslie  — Mrs. 
Emma  Willard — Percival  the  Poet — Female  Educa 
tion — Sally  Pierce — Nathaniel  Carter — Colonel  Stone 
— Percival  at  Midnight. 

I  WRITE  to-day  from  the  summit  of  the  geological 
island  of  which  Mount  Auburn  is  the  center;  Look 
ing  to  the  north  at  the  Widows'  Home,  you  see  in  the 
distance  apparently  a  range  of  hills,  while  immedi 
ately  beyond  the  Home  is  a  valley.  Beginning  on 
the  Miami,  at  the  mouth  of  Duck  creek,  and  pursuing 
its  little  vale,  you  will  arrive  at.  Mill  creek,  and  thence 
by  its  valley  on  the  Ohio  again.  On  the  space  within 
are  Walnut  Hills,  Mount  Auburn,  and  Clifton,  em 
bracing  one  of  the  most  beautiful  suburban  districts 
to  be  found  in  the  United  States.  West  of  it,  on  Mill 
creek,  is  that  Ludlow  Station,  which  was  my  earliest 
remembered  home.  Nowhere  have  I  seen  more  beau 
tiful  views  and  richer  landscapes  than  those  which 
surround  Cincinnati.  In  the  midst  of  them  we  are 
now  placed.  Sixty-five  years  ago,  I  was  a  boy  soli 
tary,  reading  the  life  of  Napoleon,  who  was  then  at 
the  height  of  his  glory,  and  trying  to  amuse  myself 
with  quail  traps  (set  where  Spring  Grove  Cemetery 
is),  and  raising  white  ducks  in  Mill  creek.  Thai 
scene  seems  real,  but  shadowed  with  a  dim  mist. 


Personal  Memories.  105 


which  takes  away  the  sharpness  of  the  outlines,  but 
leaves  a  solid  reality  behind. 

I  must  now  return  to  Princeton,  and  ask  you  to  go 
with  me  in  what  may  be  called  a  little  episode  to  my 
.£ rinceton  life.  I  left  Princeton  in  the  autumn,  and 
it  had  been  determined  that  I  should  be  a  lawyer.  It 
was  thought  best  that  I  should  commence  my  studies 
at  Litchfield,  where  I  was  to  go  the  next  summer. 
My  parents  were  doubtless  willing  to  see  a  little 
more  of  me  than  they  had  recently  done,  and  besides 
there  was  a  practical  advantage  in  being  able  to  read 
works  of  general  history  and  jurisprudence,  which 
few  young  men  can  spare  the  time  to  do.  So  my 
plan  Was  soon  marked  out,  and  I  never  regretted  it. 
It  was  a  part  of  education  which  few  can  get,  but 
which  none  can  be  thoroughly  educated  without.  I 
determined  to  take  the  forenoon  of  each  day  to  read 
history,  the  laws  of  nations,  and  general  jurispru 
dence,  leaving  the  latter  part  of  the  day  to  society 
and  amusement.  Notwithstanding  I  was  wholly  un 
restricted  as  to  what  I  should  or  should  not  do,  yet  I 
pursued  this  plan  strictly  and  most  profitably.  About 
eight  months  of  time  was  passed  in  this  kind  of  study. 
During  that  time,  Hume's  History,  Robertson's  Intro 
duction,  Yattel's  Law  of  Nations,  Rutherford's  Insti 
tutes,  Beccaria,  and  other  works,  which  were  historical 
and  legal,  I  read  with  the  greatest  interest,  and  in  re 
gard  to  my  intellectual  advancement,  with  great  ad 
vantage.  This  course,  as  was  all  that  I  ever  after 
pursued,  I  chose  myself,  and  I  can  not  at  this  day  see 
that  I  could  have  chosen  any  better.  The  simple  fact 
is  that  after  a  school  or  college  has  given  a  young 
person  what  may  be  called  the  tools  of  education — 


106  Personal  Memories. 

that  is,  the  elementary  studies — all  the  rest  must  be 
of  their  own  making.  People  talk  of  "self-educa 
tion  ;"  but  all  education  which  is  practically  useful 
for  either  mind  or  business,  must  be  self-directed.  It 
is  in  vain  to  force  any  young  person  to  pursuits  for 
which  they  have  no  taste  and  to  ends  for  which  they 
Jiave  no  ambition.  The  law,  or  medicine,  or  mer 
chandise  may  be  pursued  profitably  without  any 
scholastic  education,  except  mere  details  of  business. 
Hence,  as  the  love  of  money  and  the  necessity  for 
means  of  sustenance  are  almost  universal,  three- 
fourths  of  those  engaged  in  those  professions  have  no 
regular  or  complete  education.  Hence,  also,  when 
persons  of  this  kind  are  very  successful  in  their  busi 
ness,  the  newspapers  say  they  were  "  self-educated." 
As  an  evidence  of  industry  or  sagacity,  this  is  well 
enough.  But  there  is  no  man  among  them,  who,  for 
the  happiness  and  influence  of  his  life  would  not  have 
been  better  off  if  he  had  been  better  educated.  It  is 
not  true  that  the  educated,  cultivated  men  are  not 
"  self-educated  "  also.  When  the  young  man  leaves 
college,  henceforward  his  education  is  his  own — self- 
directed  and  self-made.  Here  it  is  that  we  see  the 
development  of  natural  tastes,  whether  it  be  to  self- 
cultivation  or  the  mere  pursuit  of  business.  Although 
the  great  body  of  college  graduates  enter  what  are 
called  the  learned  professions,  not  more  than  one- 
fourth  have  the  taste  or  the  ambition  to  pursue  sci 
ence,  learning,  or  literature  beyond  the  mere  wants 
of  their  professions.  Those  who  do  find  their  reward, 
if  not  in  place  or  wealth,  at  least  in  the  advancement 
of  their  minds,  or  in  the  happiness  of  a  self-cultivated 
life. 


Personal  Memories.  107 

While  I  was  thus  pursuing  my  literary  and  legal 
studies,  I  was  also  gaining  a  knowledge  of  society, 
and  that  of  the  best  kind  the  country  could  afford. 
My  father,  as  the  principal  professor  at  West  Point, 
received  letters  of  introduction  brought  by  cadets 
from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Their  parents  or 
iriends  also  came  to  the  Point  quite  often  to  see  the 
young  men.  New  York  was  near,  and  the  distin 
guished  men  there  also  frequently  visited  this  place. 
Many  public  characters  came  there,  and  most  of  them 
found  their  way  at  some  time  to  our  house.  My 
mother  was  a  fine  talker,  and  hospitable,  so  many  of 
these  persons  used  to  call  at  our  house  and  talk  with 
her,  and  occasionally  she  gave  an  evening  party. 
Thus  I  came  to  see  and  know  something  of  many 
men  and  women  who  came  to  be  distinguished  in  the 
country,  and  some  of  whom  were  in  themselves  very 
interesting  people.  I  was  afterward,  between  1822 
and  1825,  often  at  home,  seeing  and  enjoying  much 
of  this  kind  of  society.  Without  referring  to  a  par 
ticular  date  or  occasion,  I  will  here  briefly  describe 
some  of  these  persons.  Many  of  them  are  almost 
forgotten  now,  but  they  were  marked  persons  at  that 
time. 

First  among  these  was  Dr.  SAMUEL  L.  MITCHELL, 
whom  I  saw  one  evening  in  a  party  at  our  house,  and  wrho 
was  really  a  remarkable  man,  though,  for  some  peculiar 
ities,  often  laughed  at.  lie  was,  at  one  time,  United 
States  Senator  from  NQW  York,  but  that  was  the 
least  of  his  distinctions.  He  was  chiefly  known  as  a 
naturalist  (being  a  pioneer,  in  this  country,  of  that 
department  of  learning),  and  was  in  fact  a  learned  man. 
lie  was  very  fond  of  natural  history,  and  taught  the 


108  Personal  Memories. 

public  mind  many  things  which  now  seem  very  sim 
ple.  There  was  quite  a  controversy  in  the  newspa 
pers  because  Mitchell  said,  in  some  statement,  that  a 
whale  was  not  a  fish.  The  public  took  it  for  granted 
that  anything  which  swam  in  water  was  a  fish.  A 
whale  is  no  more  a  fish  than  a  bird.  The  whale 
belongs  to  the  class  of  mammalia.  It  was  on  account 

^ 

of  some  of  his  natural-history  peculiarities,  and  other 
what  are  called  "  notions,"  that  the  wags,  often  very 
ignorant  of  such  things,  made  fun  of  him.  He  in 
sisted  upon'calling  the  United  States  "Fredonia,"  be 
cause  "Columbia"  was  wrong.  Columbus  did  not 
discover  the  United  States,  and  "States"  did  not 
mean  anything;  but  Fredonia  would  signify  the  land 
of  freedom.  Some  wit,  in  reference  to  these  pecu 
liarities,  wrote  a  bagatelle,  in  which  was  this: 
"Of  all  the  birds  and  fishes  rarest, 
Fredonian  Mitchell  is  the  queerest. 

Dr.  Mitchell  was  a  large,  portly  man,  full  of  conver 
sation  ;  and,  as  I  remember,  on  that  evening  very 
complimentary  to  the  ladies. 

Another  man,  whom  the  world  will  not  forget  so 
soon  was  DE  WITT  CLINTON.  He  was  occasionally  at 
West  Point;  and  no  man  of  that  period  is,  or  ought 
to  be,  better  remembered.  For  twenty  years  De  Witt 
Clinton  was  the  bright  particular  star  on  the  hori 
zon  of  New  York  politics,  whose  light  also  extended 
to  other  and  remote  parts  of  this  country.  Clinton 
had  the  honor  of  doing  one  great  thing,  and  that  is 
what  nine-tenths  even  of  the  greatest  statesmen  can 
not  say.  In  England  and  this  country  men  have  risen 
to  the  highest  places,  and  have  been  regarded  as  great 
statesmen,  without  having  accomplished  even  one 


Personal  Memories.  101) 


great  original  work.  They  have  risen  by  force  of 
talent,  or  opportunity,  or  achievements  in  war;  but 
not  by  having  suggested  or  done  a  single  really  great 
thing.  Of  all  our  presidents,  an  examination  will 
show  that  three  only,  WASHINGTON,  JEFFERSON,  and 
LINCOLN,  actually  did,  in  and  of  themselves  person 
ally,  an  original  work.  De  Witt  Clinton  had  as  much 
talent  as  either  of  them,  and  more  cultivation,  lie  was 
much  better  educated  than  Washington  or  Lincoln, 
and  was  quite  as  good  a  writer  as  Jefferson.  As  a 
literary  production,  his  oration  at  the  anniversary  of 
Union  College,  N".  Y.,  is  equal  to  anything  produced 
by  our  public  men,  unless  it  is  some  of  the  addresses 
of  John  Quincy  Adams. 

De  Witt  Clinton  was  in  person  remarkably  hand 
some  and  dignified.  He  was  portly,  with  a  ruddy 
complexion  and  high  forehead.  His  address  was  po 
lite  and  pleasant,  without  inviting  to  any  familiarity. 
lie  appeared  to  a  mere  bystander  rather  stiff;  but  not 
enough  so  to  be  haughty  and  uncourteous.  In  fact  Ids 
dignified  manner,  as  compared  with  the  frank,  bluff 
address  of  many  public  men,  was  used  against  him  by 
the  pet*y  politicians  of  the  day.  The  one  great 
thing,  which  I  said  Clinton  did,  was  the  Erie  Canal. 
That  was  carried  through  by  his  talent  and  popularity. 

He  always  had  a  band  of  choice  friends  around 
him,  but  the  current  of  the  public  mind,  and  es 
pecially  of  the  party  which  afterward  became  domi 
nant  under  the  lead  of  Van  Buren,  was  against  him. 
They  represented  the  enterprise  as  a  "  big  ditch,"  to 
float  mud-scows.  It  was  the  turning  point  in  regard  to 
the  present  enterprise  and  improvement  of  this  country. 
If  the  construction  of  the  Eric  canal  had  been  delayed. 


110  Personal  Memories. 

for  several  years,  the  physical  improvement  of  the 
whole  county  would  have  been  delayed  as  much.  A 
canal,  however  great  and  however  important  it  is  at 
this  day,  was  not,  in  itself,  of  so  great  magnitude; 
but  it  was  the  initial  step  in  those  vast  improvements 
which  the  country  has  since  made.  At  the  head  of 
this  great  enterprise,  and  at  the  head  of  all  the  states 
men  who  have  since  promoted  the  improvement  of  the 
country,  stood  De  Witt  Clinton,  and  I  may  add,  he  was 
the  head  of  the  really  American  statesmen.  The  only 
man  who  could  compete  with  him  on  the  same  level 
of  ideas  and  sentiments  was  Henry  Clay.  Three 
years  after  this  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  those 
statesmen  together.  Ohio  adopted  the  policy  of  Clin 
ton,  and  made  her  own  great  canal.  In  July,  1825, 
the  first  ground  for  the  Ohio  canal  was  broken,  near 
Middletown,  by  Governor  Morrow  and  De  Witt  Clin 
ton.  A  few  days  after  Mr.  Clay  was  detained  at  Leba 
non  by  the  sickness  of  his  child,  and  Mr.  Clinton  also 
arrived.  My  friend,  Dr.  Drake,  and  I  traveling  with 
him,  were  there  also.  A  dinner  was  given  to  the  dis 
tinguished  strangers  by  the  people  of  Lebanon,  when 
I  saw  three  men,  really  great  in  their  day.  I  was 
not  much  struck  by  anything  said  or  done,  but  I  re 
member  the  different  impressions  made  upon  me  and 
Dr.  Drake  by  these  vary  different  men.  _Dr.  Drake, 
himself  an  impulsive  Western  man,  preferred  Mr. 
Clay,  especially  for  his  ready  address,  his  off-hand 
manner,  his  dash,  and  force.  Mr.  Clinton,  he  thought 
heavy,  on  account  of  his  slow  and  dignified  address. 
There  was,  in  fact,  however,  little  comparison  to  be 
made  "between  the  two  men.  After  allowing  for  all 
the  impulse,  and  eloquence,  and  pleasant  address  of 


Personal  Memories.  Ill 

Mr.  Clay,  he  fell  far  short  of  the  high  culture,  the 
well-armed  and  vigorous  mind  of  De  Witt  Clinton. 
A  finished  education  and  the  culture  of  letters  may 
not  make  a  great  man,  but  the  want  of  them  will  leave 
the  finest  intellect  in  the  world  defective  and  deficient. 
In  three  years,  Mr.  Clinton,  in  apparently  the  vigor 
of  life,  had  passed  from  the  stage  of  human  action. 
He  was  not  a  mere  comet,  suddenly  flashing,  dazzling, 
and  disappearing;  nor  was  he  a  fixed  star,  but  rather 
a  planet,  which,  for  some  unknown  reason,  left  our 
system  before  its  career  was  finished. 

I  turn  now  to  another  person,  who  was  the  very 
opposite  of  Clinton.  This  was  ELIZA  LESLIE,  a  wo 
man  with  but  common  education,  and  occupying  no 
public  station.  Miss  Leslie  was,  nevertheless,  a  very 
interesting  person.  She  was  often  at  our  house,  and 
I  would  sit  and  listen,  with  pleased  interest,  to  the 
conversation  between  her  and  my  mother.  Both 
were  the  best  of  talkers,  and  their  strong  minds 
never  wanted  a  subject  to  discuss.  Miss  Leslie's  mind 
was  not  very  broad,  and  her  chief  topics  were  those 
relating  to  society,  manners,  customs,  ways  of  doing, 
dress,  and  character.  In  these  she  took  great  interest, 
and  she  was  mistress  of  the  subject.  She  moved  in 
the  best  society  of  Philadelphia,  and  had  strong  social 
tastes.  She  wrote  a  series  of  stories,  of  which,  "  Mrs. 
Washington  Potts"  was  the  principal,  and  which,  at 
the  time,  were  very  popular.  I  thought  they  had 
merit.  Her  talk  and  her  stories  were  exactly  alike, 
showing  great  knowledge  of  society,  and  flowing  on, 
in  a  clear  and  animated  style.  Eliza  Leslie  is  now 
best  known  as  the  author  of  a  "  Cook-Book, "  which  I 
imagine  must  have  been  very  successful,  as  it  has  kept 


112  Personal  Memories. 

the  stage  for  many  years.  Toward  the  close  of  her 
life,  she  undertook  to  write  the  life  of  John  Fitch,  the 
supposed  steamboat  inventor,  but  the  book  was  never 
published.  There  was  a  curious  piece  of  history 
about  this.  Neither  Fitch  nor  Fulton  was  the  originator 
of  steamboats.  David  llumsey,  a  native  of  Virginia, 
was  the  first  who  launched  a  steamboat,  and  that  was 
on  the  waters  of  the  Potomac,  about  the  year  1787. 
Mr.  James,  of  Chillicothe,  told  me  he  was  acquainted 
with  this  fact.  Some  five  or  six  years  after  that  John 
Fitch  put  a  steamboat  on  the  Delaware,  at  Philadel 
phia,  and  succeeded,  and  my  father  saw  his  boat  mov 
ing.  But  neither  Rumsey  nor  Fitch  succeeded  in  the 
practical  part  of  making  such  a  boat  as  would  be 
profitable.  This  honor  was  reserved  for  Robert  Ful 
ton.  So,  Fitch,  being  neither  the  original,  nor  the  suc 
cessful  one,  in  this  undertaking,  could  not  be  lauded 
as  the  author  of  the  steamboat.  Perhaps,  for  this 
reason,  she  gave  up  the  undertaking.  She  was  of 
rather  a  remarkable  family.  Charles  Leslie,  the  great 
painter,  was  her  brother;  General  Leslie,  who  recently 
died  in  New  York,  was  another^  and  one  of  her  sis 
ters  married  one  of  the  Careys,  so  long  distinguished 
as  book  publishers. 

I  will  now  introduce  you  to  another  lady,  whom  the 
world  has  not  forgotten,  who  lives  in  the  memory  of 
thousands  of  women,  and  who,  perhaps,  will  be  re 
membered  as  long  as  any  woman  of  her  time.  This 
was  MRS.  EMMA  WILLARD.  History  may  preserve 
royal  names,  and  the  poetry  of  Mrs.  He  mans  may 
live,  but  none  of  them  could  have  impressed  their 
powrers  and  minds  on  so  many  thousands  as  the 
founder  of  Troy  Seminary;  the  educator  of  thous- 


Personal  Memories.  113 


amis  of  women,  and  the  author  of  those  inimitable 

stanzas : 

"  Rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep." 

Emma  Hart,  which  was  her  maiden  name,  was  born 
in  Berlin,  Connecticut.  She  married  Doctor  Willard, 
of  Vermont,  who  was  a  man  of  strong  sense,  and 
though  with  none  of  the  flashing  spirit  of  his  wife, 
seems  not  to  have  impeded  but  rather  aided  and 
encouraged  her  in  her  plans  for  female  education, 
for  it  was  in  her  married  life  in  Vermont  that  she 
began  to  form  these  plans  for  a  higher  and  better 
culture  for  women.  Subsequently  she  removed  to 
Albany,  New  York,  laid  her  plans  before  the  legis 
lature  and  the  people,  and  succeeded  in  getting  aid 
from  the  people  of  Troy,  so  that  in  a  short  time  she 
established  that  great  seminary  for  girls,  which  con 
tinued  half  a  century,  and  was  the  model  on  which 
similar  institutions  have  been  built.  But  in  saying 
this,  I  must  also  do  justice  to  another  person  whom  I 
know,  and  who  preceded  Mrs.  Willard  in  what  is 
called  a  female  school  proper.  This  was  Miss  Sally 
Pierce,  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut.  It  must  not  be 
supposed  that  Mrs.  Willard  was  the  first  person  to  set 
up  a  female  school,  any  more  than  we  are  to  suppose 
our  grandmothers  were  without  education.  Somehowr, 
and  in  some  way,  they  got  an  education  suitable  to 
ladies  in  their  generation.  Where  the  celebrated  Mrs. 
Goodrich  got  her  education  I  do  not  know,  but  certain 
it  is  that  she  and  others,  like  the  Edwards  and  Dwights, 
would  shine  in  any  circle  of  ladies  at  this  day.  At 
that  time,  howrever,  the  education  aimed  at  was  not  to 
advance  the  mind  in  higher  cultures  so  .much  as  to 
shine  in  society.  In  New  England  of  that  day  no 


114  Personal  Memories. 

useful  art  in  housekeeping  was  likely  to  be  neglected ; 
but,  between  tbese  useful  arts,  and  that  of  shining  ad 
dress,  there  seems  to  have  been  little  or  none  of  that 
solid  intellectual  education  which  is  given  now.  The 
idea  of  highest  female  education  seems  to  have  been 
that  of  address  and  refinement.  It  may  be  illustrated 
by  an  anecdote  told  of  the  eccentric  Judge  Brecken- 
ridge,  of  Pittsburg.  It  is  said  that,  attending  court  in 
one  of  the  mountain  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  he 
noticed  a  handsome,  well-formed  girl,  who  proved  to 
be  the  daughter  of  the  landlord,  who  took  his  horse, 
watered  him,  and  in  returning  jumped  over  a  five- 
barred  gate.  He  was  so  struck  by  the  girl  that  he 
determined,  other  things  being  inquired  into,  to  make 
her  his  wife.  But  to  do  this  it  was  neccessary  to  have 
her  educated,  that  the  native  diamond  might  be  polished 
into  form  and  brilliancy.  So  he  took  her  to  a  lady  in 
Philadelphia,  renowned  for  her  fashionable  education 
of  girls.  He  stated  .his  object,  and  the  lady  said : 
"  What  will  you  have  her  taught  ?"  "  Madame, '  Dress 
and  address.' ':  "  Sir,  it  shall  be  done."  And  it  was 
done.  The  lady  became  an  elegant  and  accomplished 
woman.  That  was  undoubtedly  the  common  idea  of 
the  day,  when  anything  was  meant  beyond  the  com 
mon  elements  of  education.  There  were,  however, 
long  before  Mrs.  "Willard's  time,  schools  in  which 
young  women  were  educated  to  perform  well  all  the 
useful,  practical  duties  of  life.  One  of  these  was,  as  I 
have  said,  that  of  Miss  Sally  Pierce,  of  Litchfield,  Con 
necticut,  which  was  in  the  full  tide  of  success  when  I 
entered  the  law  school  in  1823.  It  had  then,  I  think, 
been  in  existence  for  more  than  twenty  years.  I  men 
tion  this  because  eminent  as  were  the  services  of  Mrs. 


Personal  Memories.  115 

Willard  in  this  course  of  education,  it  would  be  wrong 
to  suppose  that  she  alone  inaugurated  the  system  of 
more  advanced  female  education.  Mrs.  Willard  was 
an  intimate  friend  of  my  mother,  and  a  teacher  of  her 
daughter.  Hence  she  was  often  at  our  home,  and  I 
saw  much  of  her.  She  was  a  woman  of  genius,  hand- 
Fome,  dignified,  and  commanding  in  presence,  of  most 
genial  and  pleasant  manners,  quick  and  ready  in  con 
versation,  and,  in  one  word,  attractive  in  society,  and 
amiable  in  conduct.  I  said  she  was  a  woman  of  genius, 
and  that  is  a  very  rare  quality.  She  wrote  on  various 
subjects,  and  wrote  well.  Besides  essays  on  female 
education,  and  the  hymn  "  Rocked  in  the  Cradle  of  the 
Deep,"  she  wrote  a  medical  disquisition  on  the  cholera, 
which  she  sent  to  me.  It  contained  the  most  novel 
rnd  ingenious  ideas,  but  passed  for  little  with  the 
medical  fraternity. 

Among  other  traits  of  her  character,  she  was  fond  of 
humor,  and  was  a  good  teller  of  anecdotes.  I  will  relate 
two  or  three  little  stories  which  I  heard  from  her. 
"There  was  an  old  clergyman  living  no  IT  her  place, 
quite  remarkable  for  eccentric  ideas  and  sayings. 
Among  other  things  he  was  very  literal  in  his  way  of 
applying  ideas.  On  one  occasion,  immediately  after 
the  election  of  Jefferson,  he  being  a  Federalist,  and  a 
detester  of  Jefferson,  was,  as  in  duty  bound,  praying 
for  the  president,  when  he  said :  '  And  now,  Lord,  bless 
thy  servant  Jefferson,  for,  Lord,  thou  knoAvest  he  needs 
it.9  Among  other  curious  ways,  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  asking  a  blessing  on  each  particular  thing  on  the 
table.  At  breakfast  there  was  some  bear  meat  (bears 
being  then  common  in  Vermont,  and  he  abhorring  it), 
when  he  prayed :  i  Lord  bless  the  coffee,  bless  the  bread 


116  Personal  Memories. 

and  butter,  but  as  to  this  bear  meat.  Lord,  I  do  n't  know 
what  to  say !" 

There  was  another  story  told  by  Mrs.  "Willard,  the 
force  of  which,  as  told  by  her,  can  not  be  put  on  paper, 
but  you  will  see  the  point.  There  had  been  an  affray 
among  some  men  in  which  one  was  hurt.  A  trial  took 
place,  in  which  the  object  was  to  find  out  who  hurt 
the  man,  and  Salstonstall  was  supposed  to  be  the  wrong 
doer.  One^of  the  witnesses  was  up,  who  was  supposed 
to  know.  "  Well,  what  was  Salstonstall  doing  ?"  "  Oh, 
he  was  slashing  around."  "  Well,  what  is  that  ?"  "  He 
was  just  knocking  about  him  here  and  there."  "  What 
did  he  do  to  this  man  ?"  "  Why,  he  enticed  him."  "En 
ticed  him,  how?"  "Oh,  he  enticed  him  with  a  crow 
bar — so!"  And  Mrs.  Willard  enacted  the  crowbar 
scene. 

Mrs.  Willard  died  in  ripe  years,  surrounded  by  her 
friends,  in  the  faith  of  a  Christian,  and  the  conscious 
ness  of  a  well-acted  life. 

Another  person  we  at  that  time  saw  something  of, 
was  NATHANIEL  CARTER,  author  of  "  Letters  from  Eu 
rope,"  and  editor  of  the  New  York  Statesman.  His 
letters  from  Europe  were  at  that  time  very  interest 
ing  ;  for  few  Americans  then  knew  much  about  Europe, 
and  Mr.  Carter  was  a  close  observer,  and  a  literary 
man,  with  a  pleasant  style,  putting  things  in  an  at 
tractive  form.  His  paper,  the  Statesman,  was  well  ed 
ited,  and  Clintonian  in  politics,  showing,  as  many 
other  things  did,  how  the  high  qualities  and  command 
ing  character  of  De  Witt  Clinton  drew  literary  men 
around  him. 

Mr.  Carter  was  in  ill-health,  and  died  comparatively 
young  ;  one  of  those  who,  by  dying  in  their  prime,  with 


Personal  Memories.  117 

a  life  unfilled  and  with  much  promise,  are  a  real  loss 
to  their  generation. 

Another  person  occasionally  at  the  "  Point,"  was 
COL.  WILLIAM  L.  STOXE,  editor  of  the  New  York  Com 
mercial  Advertiser.  He  was  the  author  of  the  "  Life  of 
Brandt,"  the  celebrated  Indian  chief,  Thayeiidinega. 
He  is  the  first  man  who  seems  to  have  got  an  idea  of 
the  modern  art  of  making  a  profitable  newspaper.  If 
you  take  up  a  newspaper  of  the  old  school,  two  gen 
erations  since,  you  will  find  that  nothing  could  he 
more  dry  or  inane.  The  ship  news,  the  historical  facts 
of  the  day,  and  some  political  abuse,  with  the  adver 
tisements,  made  up  nearly  all  of  it.  It  was  seldom 
that  society,  science,  or  literature  had  any  representa 
tion.  Of  course,  there  were  exceptions  to  this.  Here 
and  there  a  man  got  into  a  newspaper,  who  had  some 
idea  that  society  would  be  interested  in  itself,  and 
would  like  to  see  the  movements  of  the  great  world 
around.  But  these  were  the  exceptions.  The  great 
body  of  newspapers  were  dry  enough.  I  said  Col. 
Stone  began  to  have  an  idea  of  the  modern  newspaper, 
because  of  an  incident  which  happened  while  I  was 
there.  While  Stone  was  visiting  the  "  Point,"  for  a 
day  or  two,  an  Irish  woman,  for  some  trouble,  threw 
herself  off  the  high  rocks  near  Kosciusko's  monu 
ment,  and,  of  course,  was  killed  instantly.  It  was  a 
striking  incident,  but  Stone  immediately  dressed  it  up, 
with  a  tale  of  romance,  and  extraordinary  misfortunes, 
and  it  appeared  in  his  paper  as  an  extraordinary 
drama.  When  my  mother  saw  it,  who  saw  in  the 
affair  only  the  simple  fact  of  a  half-crazed  woman 
killing  herself,  she  looked  upon  Col.  Stone  as  a  fabu 
lous  story-teller.  But  in  this  Stone  only  exhibited  one 


118  Personal  Memories. 


of  the  signs  of  the  coming  newspaper;  when  crimes  and 
accidents  should  be  reported  not  only  in  the  fullness  of 
detail,  hut  in  exaggerated  imagery.  This  is  one  of  the 
arts  of  a  newspaper;  hut,  happily,  the  newspaper  has 
now  a  better  side  than  that.  It  is  now  a  fair  repre 
sentative  of  the  good  as  well  as  the  evil  of  society. 
Society  loves  to  look  upon  itself,  and  thinks,  to  use  a 
classic  sentiment,  that  nothing  is  foreign  to  itself 
which  is  common  to  human  nature. 

It  was,  I  think,  about  this  time,  that  JAMES  G.  PER- 
CIVAL  (the  poet)  held,  for  a  short  period,  the  post  of 
professor  of  chemistry.  He  was  occasionally  a  vis 
itor  at  our  house,  and  I  saw  something,  though  not 
much,  of  this  singular  man.  Singular  he  was,  in  his 
genius,  learning,  character,  and  manners.  E"ot  much 
of  this  would  be  visible  in  ordinary  company;  and 
there,  he  seemed  nothing  extraordinary,  except  a  very 
evident  retiring,  shrinking  manner,  the  outward  sem 
blance  of  that  unfortunate  trait  of  character  which 
marred  much  of  his  life.  This  was  a  remarkable  diffi 
dence.  It  is  said  that  his  friends,  to  help  him,  had 
instituted  a  course  of  lectures  at  Charleston  (S.  C.), 
which  were  likely  to  be  profitable,  and  the  room  was 
crowded  when  Percival,  from  mere  bashful  ness,  ran 
away,  and  the  lectures  were  not  delivered.  He 
sought  society  very  little,  and  seemed  to  learn  very 
little  of  it.  Yet,  Percival  was  a  learned  man,  and 
America  has  produced  few  so  eminent  in  knowledge 
as  he.  Being  essentially  a  student,  his  studies  and  ac 
quirements  extended  to  various  branches,  especially 
languages  and  natural  history.  Once,  at  our  house, 
he  told  us  that  he  knew  twelve  languages,  and,  I 
thi'ik,  spoke  ten  of  them.  Latin,  Greek,  and  Sanscrit 


Personal  Memories.  119 

as  well  as  French,  Spanish,  German,  and  Italian,  were 
familiar  to  him.  In  addition  to  that,  he  knew  the 
languages  of  the  North  of  Europe,  and  what  few  per 
sons  do  the  Slavonic  tongues.  He  made  some  trans 
lations  of  Slavonic  poetry.  I  saw,  in  a.  biographical 
history,  this  statement,  that  Percival  had  made  some 
translations  of  Slavonic  poetry  with  all  the  spirit  and 
reality  of  the  original,  and  that  this  could  not  be,  for 
he  could  not  have  been  so  very  familiar  with  the  or 
iginal  ;  but  I  think  he  was,  for  he  seized  upon  all 
languages,  and  all  poetry,  as  if  he  had  been  born 
to  them.  In  natural  sciences,  chemistry,  geology,  and 
kindred  subjects,  he  was  at  home.  He  was  a  short 
time  professor  of  chemistry  at  West  Point,  and  died, 
I  think,  while  geologist  of  Wisconsin.  Percival  was 
a  man  of  real  genius,  but  seemed  almost  a  stranger  in 
society.  He  was  never  married,  and  it  was  said,  as  it 
frequently  is  in  such  cases,  that  he  had  an  early  dis 
appointment  in  love,  of  which  nothing  now  can  be 
known.  I  do  n't  think  he  had  any  horror  of  young 
ladies,  for  he  was  a  visitor  at  our  house,  when  my 
sister  was  young  and  thought  beautiful.  I  remem 
ber  one  evening,  in  the  early  part  of  summer,  the 
month  of  roses,  Percival  was  at  our  house  and  exhib 
ited  the  true  character  of  a  poet,  something  to  the  an 
noyance  of  poor  human  nature.  The  evening  had 
passed  in  conversation,  when,  at  ten  o'clock,  my  fa 
ther,  as  he  invariably  did,  retired.  Soon  after,  my 
mother,  quite  unusual  for  her,  stepped  out,  too.  Per 
cival,  my  sister,  and  myself,  were  left  in  the  parlor. 
The  lights  were  dim,  but  the  moon  cast  its  silver  rays 
through  the  window,  which  probably  suggested  an 
idea  to  the  poet.  He  began  to  describe  a  visit  to  Ni- 


120  Personal  Memories. 

agara  by  moonlight ;  the  beauty  which  shone  from 
rocks  and  waters  ;  and,  finally,  what  certainly  must 
have  been  a  beautiful  phenomenon — a  rainbow  under 
the  Falls  of  Kiasrara  !  All  this  was  in  the  highest  do- 

o  o 

gree  poetic  and  interesting;  but,  alas!  never  did  I 
have  such  a  time  to  keep  awake.  The  spirit  was 
willing,  but  the  flesh  was  weak.  This  is  a  very  good 
illustration  of  Solomon's  saying,  there  is  a  time  for  all 
things;  and  never  let  poet  or  orator  throw  away  their 
eloquence  upon  sleepy  people.  I  cast  away  all  poetry, 
and  said  to  myself,  Oh,  for  one  hour  of 

"  Tired  nature's  sweet  restorer — balmy  sleep." 

I  did  not  know  a  great  deal  of  Dr.  Percivai,  but 
what  I  have  said  here  is  exactly  correct.  He,  like  Mrs. 
"Willard  was  born  in  the  little  town  of  Berlin  (Conn.), 
from  which  have  come  others  of  that  high,  spiritual 
cast,  who  seem  to  have  shed  the  light  of  genius  over 
this  dull,  plodding  world. 

On  inquiring  for  the  poems  of  Percival,  I  found 
them  out  of  print.  This  is  due,  no  doubt,  to  the 
fact  that  he  wrote  no  long,  elaborate  poems.  But 
there  are,  among  his  fugitive  pieces,  some  which  de 
serve  immortality ;  and  there  will  come  a  time  when 
the  gatherer  of  literary  remains  will  place  them  higher 
than  many  of  those  which  are  now  talked  about. 

I  have  now  finished  the  account  of,  so  far  as  I  can 
remember  it,  one  of  the  most  profitable  and  interest 
ing  periods  of  my  life.  I  only  regret  that  in  this  half 
century  which  followed,  there  were  only  two  periods 
in  which  I  saw  so  much  of  genius,  so  much  of  that  in 
tellectual  life,  which  seems  to  shine  upon  and  beautify 
the  materialism  of  the  world.  The  social  history  of 


Personal  Memories.  121 

both  England  and  America  shows  that  there  arc  times 
and  circles  of  life  in  which  there  is  a  sort  of  shining 
forth  of  light,  which  seems  almost  to  set  lire  to  the 
mind  of  the  day,  and  be  felt  in  after  history.  Of  this, 
I  shall  show  you  more  hereafter. 


122  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Litchfield  —  Law  School  —  Noted  Men  —  Judge  Reeve  — 
Judge  Gould  —  Anecdotes  —  Uriah  Tracey  —  John  Pier- 
point—  The  Wolcotts  —  The  Demings  —  Col.  Tall- 
•.nadge  —  Talk  with  Governor  Wolcott  —  Connecticut 
Politics  —  The  Seymours  —  Dr.  Sheldon  —  Mode  of 
—  Dr.  Beecher. 


IT  was  about  the  middle  of  June,  1823,  that  my 
father  and  I  drove  up  to  Grove  Catlin's  tavern,  on  the 
"Green,"  of  Litchficld,  Connecticut.  It  was  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  days  of  the  year,  and  just  before 
sunset.  The  scene  was  most  striking.  Litchfield  is 
on  a  hill,  about  one  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and 
having  line  scenery  on  every  side.  On  the  west  rises 
"  Mount  Tom,"  a  dark,  frowning  peak;  in  the  south 
west,  "Bantam  Lake,"  on  whose  shores  I  have  often 
walked  and  ridden.  In  the  north  and  east  other 
ridges  rolled  away  in  the  distance,  and  so,  from  Litch 
field  Hill,  there  is  a  varied  and  delightful  prospect. 
One  of  the  first  objects  which  struck  my  eyes  was  in 
teresting  and  picturesque.  This  was  a  long  procession 
of  school  girls,  coming  down  North  street,  walking 
under  the  lofty  elms,  and  moving  to  the  music  of  a 
flute  and  flageolet.  The  girls  were  gayly  dressed  and 
evidently  enjoying  their  evening  parade,  in  this  most 
balmy  season  of  the  year.  It  was  the  school  of  Miss 
Sally  Pierce,  whom  I  have  mentioned  before,  as  one 
of  the  earliest  and  best  of  the  pioneers  in  American 


Personal  Memories.  123 

female  education.  That  scene  has  never  laded  from 
my  memory.  The  beauty  of  nature,  the  loveliness  of 
the  season,  the  sudden  appearance  of  this  school  of 
girls,  all  united  to  strike  and  charm  the  mind  of  a 
young  man,  who,  however  varied  his  experience,  had 
never  beheld  a  scene  like  that.  In  the  evening  my 
father  and 'myself  walked  up  to  the  home  of  Judge 
Gould,  who  was  to  be  my  future  preceptor.  The 
judge  was  a  handsome  man,  a  very  able  lawyer,  with 
a  keen  and  superior  mind,  subtle,  discriminating,  and 
yet  clear  as  crystal.  His  treat  se  on  "Pleading," 
which  was  one  of  the  law  titles  upon  which  he  lec 
tured  to  our  class,  is  the  ablest  law  book  there  is  ex 
tant.  My  father  was  acquainted  with  him,  and  it  was 
soon  announced  that  I  should  enter  as  a  law  student, 
and,  as  it  turned  out,  my  residence  in  Litchtield  con 
tinued  the  next  two  years,  and  I  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  by  the  county  court  of  Litchtield,  in  June,  1825. 
The  next  morning  my  father  introduced  me  to  Gov 
ernor  Wolcott,  and  my  room  and  board  were  arranged 
for  at  Mrs.  Lord's,  whose  house  was  just  across  the 
street  from  Dr.  Lyman  Beeeher's,  then  pastor  of  the 
Litchfield  Congregational  Church.  As  my  residence 
at  Litchtield  was  one  of  tho  most  important  periods 
of  my  life,  and,  as  I  was  there  introduced  into  a  so 
ciety,  of  which  this  country  has  had  none  superior,  I 
will  state*  something  of  the  growth  and  character  of 
Litchtield  before  I  was  there.  Litchtield  was  settled 
nearly  a  hundred  years  after  the  first  settlement  of 
New  Haven,  and  chiefly  by  immigrants  from  Hartford. 
The  Wolcott  family  early  came  there,  and  they  and 
their  connections  were  among  the  must  distinguished 
people  in  the  state.  Three  successive  Wolcotts  wero 


124  Personal  Memories. 

governors  of  the  state,  the  second  being  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the 
third  the  successor  of  Hamilton,  as  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  in  the  administration  of  Washington.  This 
was  the  one  then  living  in  Litchiield.  Then  there  were 
the  Tallrnadges,  the  Seymours,  the  Buells,  with  Tracy 
and  others,  who  had  made  Litchiield  noted  for  talent 
and  social  aristocracy  long  before  I  came  there.  Many 
striking  anecdotes  were  told  of  the  men  and  women 
of  the  former  days,  which  still  lingered  in  tradition. 
Two  or  three  are  worth  preserving,  because  they  at 
test  to  a  wit  far  superior  to  what  we  have  now. 

URIAH  TRACY,  who  lived  at  Litchiield,  was  a  very 
superior  man,  and  noted  for  wit.  lie  was  United 
States  Senator,  from  Connecticut,  in  the  time  of  Wash 
ington  and  Adams,  and  to  him  are  attributed,  whether 
true  or  not,  some  of  the  sharpest  sayings  of  that  day. 
It  is  said  that  he  was  standing  on  the  steps  of  the 
Capitol,  which  you  know  looks  down  Pennsylvania 
avenue,  when  a  drove  of  mules  was  coming  up.  Ran 
dolph,  who  was  standing  by  him,  said  :  "  There,  Tracy, 
are  some  of  your  constituents."  "  Yes,  sir;"  said 
Tracy,  "they  are  going  to  Virginia,  to  keep  school." 
At  another  time  Tracy  was  standing  by  the  British 
Ambassador,  in  one  of  those  receptions  which  Hunt- 
ington  has  so  well  depicted,  in  what  he  calls  the  "  Court 
of  Washington,"  in  the  midst  of  which  Mrs.  Goodrich 
appears  as  one  of  the  characters.  This  lady  was,  I 
think,  of  the  Wolcott  family,  and  distinguished  for 
beauty,  grace,  and  manners.  The  ambassador  was 
much  struck  by  the  appearance  of  Mrs.  Goodrich, 
and  exclaimed:  "By  George,  Tracy,  Mrs.  Goodrich 
would  be  di  tinguished  in  the  Court  of  England  1" 


Personal  Memories..  125 


"Yes,  sir;"  said  Tracy,  bowing,  "she  is  distinguished 
even  on  Litchfield  Hiil !''  Tracy  was  right,  tor,  to  be 
admired  in  the  society  of  Litchtield,  at  that  time, 
would  have  required  talents  and  graces  sufficient  to  se 
cure  distinction  in  any  court  of  the  world.  But,  all 
this  is  gone,  and, nothing  can  illustrate  the  evanescent 
state of  our_society  more  than  the  changes  which  it  has 
undergone  in  many  of  the  old  places  in  the  old  states. 
However  excellent  or  able  may  be  the  people  who  live 
in  Litchfield  now,  there  is  no  such  social  glor\r,  no 
such  marked  superiority  there,  as  that  which  distin 
guished  the  noted  people  of  Litchfield  in  the  genera 
tion  just  passing  away,  when  I  came  upon  the  stage. 
The  change  in  people,  manners,  and  conditions  is 
quite  as  great  as  the  change  in  the  dress  of  gentlemen. 
When  I  was  a  law  student,  a  few  old  gentlemen  still 
retained  the  dress  of  the  Revolution.  It  was  a  pow 
dered  queue,  white-topped  boots,  silk  stockings,  and 
breeches  with  buckles.  I  can  remember  to  have  seen 
David  Daggett,  chief  justice,  and  a  half  dozen  others, 
walking  in  the  streets  with  this  dignified  dress.  It  is 
in  vain  to  say  that  the  present  dress  is  at  all  equal  to 
it — in  what  ought  to  be  one  of  the  objects  of  good 
dress — to  give  an  idea  of  dignity  and  respect.  The 
man  who  is  now  inside  of  a  plain  black  dress,  with 
unpretending  bo-^ts,  may  be  as  good  a  man,  as  able  a 
man,  as  he  in  white-topped  boots  and  breeches,  but  he 
is  not  respected  as  much,  for  he  no  longer  assumes  as 
much.  In  ceasing  to  claim  the  superiority  due  to 
high  social  position,  he  has  l<'st  a  part  of  his  own  self-  [ '/ \j  ** 
respect.  He  has  become  only  one  of  a  multitude  in 
stead  of  being  one  above  a  multitude. 

But  I  must   hasten  on.     Perhaps  you  will   like  to 


.Personal  Memories. 


know  how  the  day  passed  with  a  law  student,  in  a 
school  and  place  which  has  furnished  many  a  great 
man  to  this  nation.  My  room,  at  Mrs.  Lord's,  was  in 
the  northwest  corner  of  a  large  house,  and,  from  its 
windows,  I  looked,  on  one  side,  over  at  Dr.  Beecher's 
house,  and,  from  another,  west,  to  "Mount  Tom." 
From  the  rooms  of  my  fellow-students,  on  the  south  side, 
might  be  seen  Bantam  Lake,  and  the  distant  ridges  and 
blue  skies  in  the  south.  It  was  a  pleasant  house,  and  a 
good  landlady,  and  to  Mrs.  Lord  I  was  indebted  for 
many  an  act  of  kindness.  She  was  the  widow  of 
Sheriff  Lord,  the  mother  of  Mrs.  Pierpoint,  wife  of 
the  celebrated  poet  and  minister.  Pierpoint  was 
a  noted  Unitarian  ;  but  Mrs.  Lord  was  a  member 
of  Dr.  Beecher's  church.  The  Pierpoints  came  from 
what  was  called  "  South  Farms,"  a  part  of  Litchfield 
township,  on  the  road  to  New  Haven.  The  father  of 
John  Pierpoint  was  a  deacon  in  the  orthodox  Congre 
gational  church;  but  the  poet,  for  some  reason,  wan 
dered  off  and  became  a  noted  Unitarian,  having  at  one 
time  a  congregation  in  Boston.  Whatever  else  may 
have  been  his  qualifications,  he  was  a  real  poet,  and 
also  a  wit.  I  have  always  thought  that  some  parts  of 
iiis  "Airs  of  Palestine"  were  among.  the  best  speci 
mens  of  American  poetry.  It  is  unfortunate  that  so 
many  fine  pieces  of  poetry  are  likely  to  be  lost,  because 
they  are  forgotten,  and  are  only  preserved  in  collec 
tions,  which  themselves  are  likely  to  be  ephemeral. 
But  I  will  return  to  my  day  in  the  law  school.  We 
breakfasted  from  seven  to  eight  in  the  morning,  and 
at  nine  o'clock  went  to  the  lecture-room  to  hear  and 
take  notes  of  Judge  Gould's  lecture.  The  founder  of 
the  Litchfield  Law  School  was  JUDGE  TAPPING  REEVE, 


Personal  Memories.  127 

and,  if  tradition  is  correct,  fjw  better  men  have  ever 
lived,  and  scarcely  any  one  was  then  better  known  to 
the  bar.  lie  was  the  author  of  a  Treatise  on  Domcs- 
ti^  E-elations,  which  the  lawyers  admired,  but  said  was 
not  law,  on  account,  I  believe,  of  its  leaning  too  much 
to  women's  rights;,  a  limit  which  would  not  he  found 
with  it  in  this  day.  At  the  time  I  arrived  in  Litch- 
field,  Judge  Reeve  had  given  up  the  law  school  to 
Judge  Gould,  who  had  been  his  partner,  and  he  soon 
after  died.  lie  was  a  man  rather  noted  for  eccentrici 
ties.  After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  he  married  his 
housekeeper — a  most  respectable  woman,  however,  dis 
tinguished  for  piety  and  benevolence,  lie  was  quite 
absent-minded,  and  one  day  he  was  seen  walking  up 
North  street,  with  a  bridle  in  his  hand,  but  without  his 
horse,  which  had  quietly  slipped  out  and  walked  off. 
The  judge  calmly  fastened  the  bridle  to  a  post,  and 
walked  into  the  house,  oblivious  of  any  horse.  It  was 
under  the  teaching  of  Judge  Reeve  that  such  men  as 
John  C.  Calhoun  and  John  M.  Clnyton,  of  Delaware, 
were  law  students.  The  school  was  now  under  the 
sole  care  of  Judge  Gould.  At  nine  o'clock  we  stu- 
dentswralked  to  the  lecture-room,  with  our  note-books 
under  our  arms.  We  had  desks,  with  pen  and  ink,  to 
record  the  important  principles  and  authorities.  The 
practice  of  Judge  Gould  was  to  read  the  principle 
from  his  own  manuscript  twice  distinctly,  pausing  be 
tween,  and  repeating  in  the  same  manner  the  leading 
cases.  Then  we  had  time  to  note  down  the  principle 
and  cases.  The  remarks  and  illustrations  we  did  not 
note.  After  the  lecture  we  had  access  to  a  law  library 
to  consult  authorities.  The  lecture  and  references  took 
about  two  hours.  Those  of  us  who  were  in  earnest, 


128  Personal  Memories. 

of  whom  I  was  one,  immediately  returned  home,  and 
copied  out  into  our  lecture-books  all  the  principles  and 
cases.  My  lecture-books  made  five  volumes.  The  lec 
tures,  the  references,  and  the  copying  took  me,  on  an 
average,  from  nine  o'clock  until  three  or  four  o'clock, 
with  the  intermission  of  near  an  hour  for  dinner.  I 
did  not  then,  as  I  do  not  now,  study  or  write  in  the 
evening.  Of  course  there  were  some  exceptions.  1 
regard  night  work,  in  which  nine-tenths  of  students 
indulge,  as  injurious  to  the  health  and  even  to  the 
mind.  Still,  as  man  is  an  omnivorous  animal,  so  he 
may  be  as  capable  of  choosing  all  times  as  he  is  of  all 
meats. 

From  five  to  six  hours  a  day  employed  in  this  man 
ner  was  my  regular  work  at  Litchfield,  and  very 
seldom  was  a  day  missed.  At  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  I  was  generally  at  leisure,  and  that  was 
usually  employed  in  walking  or  riding — sometimes  in 
visiting.  At  Mrs.  Lord's  were  six  of  us  ;  t^vo  from 
Georgia;  one  each  from  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Massachusetts,  and  myself.  We  often  rode  in  the 
afternoons,  and  the  vicinity  of  Litchtield  affords  the 
most  beautiful  rides  I  have  overseen.  A  rolling  coun 
try,  en  high  ground,  with  here  and  there  a  mountain 
top  or  a  little  lake,  and  rapid,  pure  streams  of  water, 
nature  presented  most  various  and  lovely  pictures  of 
beauty.  We  prolonged  our  rides  in  summer  time, 
having  taken  an  early  tea,  into  the  starlit  shades  of 
night.  In  the  long  days  of  summer,  no  candles  were 
lit  in  the  farm-houses  of  Connecticut.  When  the  deep 
twilight  came,  every  family  had  gone  to  rest  as  com 
pletely  as  the  chickens  to  their  roosts;  but,  when  the 
dawn  of  day  came,  they  were  up  ;  and  when  we  lazy 


Personal  Memories.  129 

students  -were  at  breakfast,  they  had  done  hours  of 
work.  Such  were  the  Connecticut  farmers  of  that  day. 
It  was  commonly  my  practice  to  walk  in  the  after 
noons  of  summer,  and  the  opportunities  for  pleasant 
walking  were,  like  those  of  riding,  very  good  and 
tempting.  Litchfield,  like  many  New  England  towns, 
was  built  chiefly  on  two  main  streets,  one  going  north 
and  south,  and  the  other  east  and  west,  and  the  whole 
on  a  hill  or  ridge,  with  Bantam  river  running  on  the 
east  and  another  stream  on  the  west.  North  and  South 
street  was  more  than  a  mile  in  length,  shaded  nearly 
its  whole  length  by  those  lofty  and  broad-spreading 
elms  for  which  some  of  the  towns  in  Connecticut  were 
noted.  In  the  warm  days  of  summer,  and  in  those 
beautiful  and  cloudless  sunsets,  like  the  day  in  which 
I  had  first  seen  it,  most  of  the  young  people  would 
be  on  the  streets,  and  among  them  those  of  the  stu 
dents  who,  like  myself,  were  lovers  of  beauty  and  of 
scenery.  Owing  to  my  introduction  to  society,  which  is 
always  a  great  benefit  to  young  men  of  any  sense,  I 
wras  soon  acquainted  with  the  best  families,  and  my 
afternoon  walks,  as  well  as  my  evening  visits,  often  led 
me  among  those  distinguished  in  beauty,  grace,  and 
position.  One  of  my  temptations  to  an  afternoon  walk 
was  to  meet  the  girls,  who,  like  ourselves,  were  often 
seen  taking  their  daily  walk.  Among  these,  were  the 
Wolcotts,  the  Demings,  the  Tallmadges,  the  Landons, 
and  Miss  Peck,  who  afterward  became  my  wife.  The 
Demings  were  always  my  warm  friends,  and  to  them  I 
am  indebted  for  many  a  kindness,  at  a  time  when  I 
was  ill  and  weak,  and  the  bystanders  hardly  expected 
me  to  live.  Of  the  "Wolcotts,  there  wore  four,  and  I 
think  now,  as  I  did  then,  that  I  never  beheld  more 


130  Personal  Memories. 

beautiful  women  than  were  Hannah  and  Mary  Ann 
"VVolcott.  Many  a  time  have  I  met  them  on  North  street 
when  it  was  a  pleasure  to  look  upon  them,  with  the 
clearest  complexions  of  white  and  red,  the  brightest  eyes, 
with  tall  and  upright  forms,  and  graceful  walk.  These 
ladies  would  have  attracted  admiration  in  any  place  of 
the  world.  The  two  other  Wolcotts  were  also  very 
handsome.  Elizabeth  married  my  intimate  friend, 
John  P.  Jackson,  of  Newark,  and  Laura  married 
another  friend,  Mr.  Rankin.  Their  children  are  nu 
merous,  and  likely  to  maintain,  in  various  ways,  the 
fine  character  of  their  ancestors.  Of  that  circle  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  girls  at  Litchficld,  with  whom  I  was 
specially  acquainted,  all  but  two  were  married  to  non 
residents  and  moved  to  other  states.  Two  went  to 
New  York,  three  to  New  Jersey,  one  to  Pennsylvania, 
two  to  Vermont,  one  to  Ohio,  one  to  West  New  York, 
one  died  unmarried,  and  two  are  living  unmarried. 
These  simple  facts  show  what  a  moving  and  in  some  re 
spects  unstable  country  is  ours.  The  young  men  of  the 
East  migrate  to  the  West,  and  the  young  women  marry 
those  who  also  migrate,  and  there  are  few  parts  of  our 
country  where  there  are  families  whose  ancestors 
were  there  one  hundred  years  before.  In  New  Haven 
are  still  some  Mansfields  whose  ancestors  were  born 
two  hundred  years  before.  But  a  far  greater  number 
have  emigrated,  and  still  our  American  population  are 
moving  on,  restless,  while  there  is  any  hope  of  gratify 
ing  ambition  or  acquiring  wealth.  Connecticut  has 
ever  been  a  great  hive,  from  which  the  young  have 
swarmed  out;  making  their  homes  in  the  vales  of 
Ohio,  on  the  mountain  tops  and  on  the  ocean  waves. 
My  afternoon  walks  led  also  in  a  different  direction, 


Personal  Memories.  131 

into  a  society  where  there  was  less  to  admire  and  more 
to  learn.  At  the  lower  end  of  South  street,  in  a  large  but 
plain  house,  lived  Oliver  Wolcott,  who  had  heen  a  mem 
ber  of  Washington's  cabinet,  and  a  man  of  great  weight 
in  the  country.  He  was  not  the  father,  but  the  uncle  of 
the  Misses  Wolcott,  who  were  the  daughters  of  his 
brother.  The  first  Oliver  Wolcott  known  to  history,  was 
governor  of  Connecticut,  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
ago.  The  second  was  also  governor,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  Revolutionary  Congress  and  signed  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence.  The  third  Oliver  Wolcott,  of 
whom  I  speak,  was  in  early  life  a  merchant,  then  became 
comptroller  of  the  treasury  in  the  early  part  of  Was- 
ingt  on's  administration ;  then,  on  the  resignation  of 
Hamilton,  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
and  served  until  Adams  was  elected.  He  was  now  in 
retirement,  living  in  his  ancestral  home,  and  quietly 
waiting  the  turn  of  events.  Doubtless,  he  had  other 
anticipations,  but  he  made  no  public  efforts,  and  lived 
in  that  quiet  simplicity,  which  characterize  a  true  Re 
publican.  He  had  two  sons  who  died  young,  and  with 
them  has  perished  in  the  direct  line,  the  Oliver  Wol 
cott  political  distinction.  My  father  had  introduced 
me  to  Governor  Wolcott,  and  occasionally  I  called 
upon  him  and  had  most  interesting  conversations  on 
the  past  and. future  of  our  country.  Several  times, 
when  my  duties  were  over,  and  the  pleasant  summer 
afternoons  invited  a  walk,  I  went  down  to  Governor 
Wolcott' s  and  talked  with  him  alone  on  the  condition 
of  the  country.  From  him  I  got  some  ideas  which 
have  remained  with  me  ever  since.  He  was  a  strong 
tariff  man,  and  so  was  my  father,  and  most  of  the 
public  men  of  that  day.  They  saw  that,  owing  to  im- 


132  Personal  Memories. 

mcnse  importations  of  foreign  goods,  a  large  part  of 
which  might  just  as  well  have  been  made  in  this  coun 
try,  the  country  was  drained  of  its  specie,  industries 
kept  back,  and  commercial  affairs  liable  to  sudden  and 
ruinous  fluctuations.  They,  therefore,  concluded  that 
to  lay  a  high  tariff  on  foreign  fabrics  would  encourage 
American  industry,  and  so  far  diminish  importations, 
and  give  stability  to  trade.  This  view  was  earnestly 
taken  by  Governor  Wolcott,  and  has  continued  with 
little  exception  to  be  the  policy  of  the  country  ever 
since.  Since  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  the  necessity 
for  a  large  revenue  has  imposed  the  necessity  for  a 
high  tariff,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  for  many  years. 
In  the  meantime,  also,  American  manufactures  of  al 
most  all  kinds  have  risen  up,  and  become  so  success 
ful  that  the  question  of  the  tariff  is  not  likely  to  again 
agitate  politics.  In  the  next  thirty  years,  however,  it 
did  enter  largely  into  political  discussions.  Happily 
for  the  country,  the  views  of  Wolcott  and  of  nearly 
all  the  old  statesmen  prevailed,  and  the  country  has 
been  saved  from  seeing  its  labor  and  indnstrial  insti 
tutions  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  European  capital. 

Governor  Wolcott  had  old-fashioned  ideas  about 
many  things.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  necessity  of 
having  men  of  genius  or  brilliancy  to  carry  on  the 
government.  You  know  that  young  men  are  inordi 
nately  attracted  by  those  very  qualities.  The  brilliant 
orator  or  writer,  the  man  of  great  schemes,  and  the 
professor  of  new  ideas,  are  the  sort  of  people  who  win 
the  admiration  of  young  men.  At  this  time — the 
summer  of  1824 — there  were  several  men  ot  this  sort 
looming  up  as  candidates  for  the  presidency.  There 
were  Adams,  Clay,  Calhoun,  and  De  Witt  Clinton — 


Personal  Memories.  183 

all  men  of  brilliant  qualities.  It  was  probably  with 
these  in  his  mind — in  fact,  we  were  talking  of  them — 
that  Governor  Wolcott  said  to  me,  in  substance: 
"  You  do  n't  want  a  man  of  genius  for  president. 
You  want  a  plain,  practical  man.  There  is  old  Sit- 
greaves.  of  Pennsylvania,  will  make  as  good  a  pres 
ident  as  any  other."  Now,  Sitgreaves  was  a  member  I 
of  congress,  full  of  statistics  and  political  economy. 
I  have  thought  since  that  the  American  people  had  | 
realized  Wolcott's  idea  of  getting  a  man  without  ge 
nius,  but  had  often  failed  in  getting  one  equal  to  Sit 
greaves.  Just  look  in  the  calm  light  of  history  upon 
the  administrations  of  Polk,  Pierce,  and  Buchanan  ! 
Of  genius,  no  human  being  would  accuse  them.  Of 
anything  like  a  broad  and  sagacious  statesmanship, 
just  a  little.  Clinton,  Calhoun,  Webster,  Clay — all 
rejected  ;  and  Polk,  Pierce,  and  Buchanan  accepted  ! 
What  a  record  for  a  great  and  enlightened  nation  to 
make  ! 

Governor  Wolcott  was  elected  governor  as  the  can 
didate  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  had  never  at 
any  time  been  able  to  elect  a  candidate.  The  manner 
of  it  was  curious,  and  as  it  involves  a  chapter  of  po 
litical  history  which  will  probably  never  be  written,  I 
will  notice  it  here.  Connecticut  had  always  been 
governed  by  the  old  Federal  party,  which  contained 
unquestionably  four-fifths  of  the  good  and  great  men 
of  the  state.  In  the  times  of  Jefferson  and  Madison, 
the  Democratic  party,  to  which  my  father  belonged, 
was  a  small  minority,  which  probably  never  would 
have  corne  into  power  but  for  certain  laws  peculiar  to 
that  state.  Connecticut  had,  in  fact,  coming  down 
from  Puritan  times,  a  sort  of  state  church.  It  con- 


134  Personal  Memories. 

sisted  in  this,  that  a  tax  was  levied  for  the  support 
of  religion,  and  paid  to  the  churches.  I  believe  only 
to  the  Congregational ;  for  that  was  for  a  long  time 
the  only  church  in  the  state.  Bnt  in  the  meantime 
the  Episcopal  Church,  largely  founded  by  my  great- 
uncle,  Richard  Mansfield,  had  grown  up  to  he  a  large 
body.  Then  came  in  the  Methodists  and  Baptists, 
and  with  them  all,  some  able  men  who  were  Deists. 
Then  came  complaints  against  the  dominant  influence 
of  the  Congregationalists  and  the  imposition  of  a  tax 
for  religious  purposes.  This  question  came  to  be  agi 
tated.  Then  the  Democrats  took  advantage  of  it,  and 
uniting  with  these  discontented  elements  formed  what 
was  called  the  "Toleration"  party.  Wolcott,  whose 
family  were  Federalists,  and  who  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Federal  administration  of  Washington,  was  the 
candidate  of  this  Toleration  party,  and  was  thus 
elected  governor.  By  this  combination  Connecticut 
became  for  man}7  years  a  Democratic  state,  and  was 
by  no  means  improved  in  either  the  quality  or  caliber 
of  its  public  men.  There  was  some  reaction  in  after 
years,  when  such  men  as  Iluntington  and  Bucking 
ham  came  into  the  United  States  Senate.  But,  as  a 
whole,  the  political  changes  in  Connecticut  have  been 
for  the  worse,  as  I  fear  they  have  in  the  whole  coun 
try.  It  is  a  sad  and  ominous  thing  for  a  great  coun 
try,  when  it  can  be  truly  said : 

"The  post  of  honor  is  a  private  station." 

Let  me  now  turn  to  some  other  characters.  On  the 
North  street  was  the  residence  of  COLONEL  BENJAMIN 
TALLMADGE.  He  was  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  old 
school,  with  the  long  queue,  white-topped  boots,  and 


Personal  Memories.  135 


breeches.  He  had  been  an  officer  in  the  guard  over 
Andre  at  the  time  he  was  ordered  to  execution. 
After  the  war  he  had  retired  to  LitchtieJd,  and  was 
one  of  the  most  marked  as  well  ns  dignified  men  who 
appeared  in  that  aristocratic  town.  When  the  West 
ern  Reserve  of  Ohio  was  set  oh1'  to  Connecticut  and 
sold  for  the  school  fund,  he  became  a  large  owner  of 
lands  there,  and  a  township  was  named  after  him. 
One  of  his  daughters  married  into  the  distinguished 
Delafield  family  of  New  York,  and  was  herself  a  noted 
lady. 

At  the  upper  end  of  North  street,  and  near  where  I 
boarded,  was  the  unpretending  and  home-like  house 
of  Dr.  Daniel  Sheldon.  He  was  my  physician  in  an 
attack  of  sickness,  and  one  whom  I  always  regarded 
with  great  respect.  Whe:i  he  h:ul  just  graduated  from 
a  medical  college,  he  had  an  attack  on  the  lungs,  and 
was  supposed  to  be  fast  going  into  consumption,  and 
was  saved  by  what  may  be  called  heroic  treatment. 
lie  went  to  Litchfield  to  practice  medicine,  which  in 
volved  much  riding  on  horseback,  and  he  began 
taking  opium,  until  he  took  incredible  quantities. 
Nevertheless  it  cured  him  ;  and  he  recovered  from  the 
habit  of  taking  opium  as  resolutely  and  bravely  as  he 
had  began  it.  lie  survived  all  danger  of  early  death, 
and  lived  to  be  eighty-four  years  of  age,  quietly  and 
peacefully  declining,  until  he  passed  from  this  life  as 
gently  as  the  setting  star.  One  of  his  sons  was  secre 
tary  of  legation  in  France,  and  one  was  a  very  suc 
cessful  merchant  in  New  York.  I  was  indebted  to 
him  for  a  comforting  assurance,  when  we  students 
were  charged  with  being  unco'mmonly  "  fast."  There 
were  more  than  fifty  law  students  bjardiirjr  in  Litch- 


136  Personal  Memories. 

field,  many  of  them  of  wealthy  families,  and  many 
of  them  from  the  South.  Of  course,  there  must  be 
some  amusement,  and  often  the  midnight  air  resounded 
with  the  songs  of  midnight  rioters,  and  sometimes 
stories  were  circulated  to  the  students'  disadvantage. 
After  hearing  some  remarks  on  the  "fast"  students, 
I  met  J)r.  Sheldon  walking,  and  said  to  him: 

"Doctor,  they  say  we  are  the  worst  students  ever 
were  in  Litchfield."  "Pooh!  pooh!"  said  the  doctor, 
"  they  are  not  half  as  bad  as  they  were  in  my  day." 
So  I  was  comforted  with  the  idea  that  we  wTerc  not 
casting  shame  on  those  venerable  Puritans,  who  had 
condescended  to  become  our  ancestors.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
I  greatly  enjoyed  those  evening  sleigh  rides,  and  those 
country  suppers,  when  we  would  ride  off  to  Goshen,  or 
Ilerwinton,  or  other  village,  and  order  our  turkey  and 
oysters,  served  up  with  pickles  and  cake,  and  then  set 
Black  Cresar  to  play  jigs  on  a  cracked  fiddle.  But  the 
grand  occasions  was  something  beyond  this,  when  we 
got  sleighs  with  fine  horses,  and  buffalo  robes,  and 
foot-stoves,  and  invited  the  belles  of  Litchfield,  who 
never  hesitated  to  go,  and  sat  off  to  the  distant  village 
to  have  a  supper  and  dance.  I  seldom  danced,  and 
some  of  the  girls  did  not,  but  there  were  always  some 
who  did,  and  we  had  jolly  times.  So  passed  my  days 
in  Litchfield,  doing  a  great  deal  of  good  work  in  study, 
enjoying  much  of  good  society,  and  passing  its  hours 
in  innocent  amusements. 

Perhaps,  before  I  close,  I  ought  to  notice  two  or 
three  other  families,  not  so  much  on  their  account,  as 
by  way  of  illustrating  how  Connecticut,  in  that  gen 
eration,  became  the  great  hive  of  the  teachers  and 
loaders  of  the  country.  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say 


Personal  Memories.  137 

that  at  that  time,  when  the  country  had  not  one-third 
of  its  present  population,  Connecticut,  in  proportion  to 
its  own  population  (which  was  then  300,000),  sent  out 
three-fold  as  many  as  any  other  state  of  those  who  be 
came  eminent  in  wealth,  literature,  law,  or  politics. 
If  any  one  shall  deny  this,  it  can  be  proved  by  the  re 
corded  history  of  the  country.  One  of  the  peculiar 
characteristics  of  Litchfield  was,  in  popular  phrase, 
that  they  "stuck  to  their  men,"  and  that  is  a  good 
characteristic  of  any  country.  Lifchfield  elected  two 
representatives  to  the  legislature,  and  for  nearly  a  cen 
tury  two  or  three  names  made  up  four-fifths  of  all  the 
representatives.  This  certainly  is  one  of  the  reasons 
which  gave  Connecticut  the  soubriquet  of  "the  land 
of  steady  habits."  One  of  the  common  names  in  the 
township  was  that  of  Buell.  I  was  well  acquainted 
with  Dr.  Buell,  who  lived  on  South  street,  and  one  of 
whose  daughters  married  a  law  student,  a  Mr.  Frank 
lin,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  the  mother  of  General 
Franklin,  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  Another  noted 
man  in  Litchfield  was  JULIUS  DEMING.  This  gentle 
man  was  a  merchant  and  eminently  successful.  No 
man  in  the  county  was  more  honored  and  respected 
for  integrity  of  character  than  this  Litchfield  merchant. 
He  became  very  wealthy.  His  sons  were  wealthy,  and 
his  only  surviving  daughter  has  inherited  the  family 
mansion,  and  lives  unmarried,  preserving  still  the  dig 
nity  and  character  of  the  family. 

Another  family  there  was  that  of  the  SEYMOURS,  and 
there  is  scarcely  another  family  more  distinguished 
than  theirs.  Moses  Seymour,  the  immediate  ancestor, 
was  an  officer  of  the  Revolution,  and  settled  in  Litch 
field.  One  of  the  sons  emigrated  to  Vermont,  and 


138  Personal  Memories. 

became  a  United  States  Senator  from  Vermont.  An 
other  emigrated  to  New  York,  was  a  land  commis 
sioner,  and  mixed  much  in  politics.  His  son,  Horatio 
Seymour,  was  governor  of  New  York,  and  the  demo 
cratic  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1868,  against 
Grant.  The  main  stock  of  the  family  remained  in 
Litchfield,  and  were  not  without  honors  there.  One 
of  the  sons  was  sheriff  of  Litchtield  county,  and  ORI- 
GEN  SEYMOUR,  who  was  at  the  law  school  in  my  time, 
became  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut, 
and  is  yet  on  the  political  stage. 

Since  I  have  given  an  account  of  the  Litchfield  law 
school,  in  its  beginning  and  its  prime,  I  may  as  well 
continue  to  the  end.  It  was  near  by.  Judge  Gould 
becoming  infirm  in  health,  J.  W.  Huntington,  Esq., 
who  was  a  relative  of  the  Wolcotts,  became  his  coad 
jutor  until  Gould  died.  Huntington,  who  soon  after  be 
came  judge  and  United  States  Senator,  had  other  affairs 
on  hand,  and  soon  gave  up  the  school.  Practically 
the  school  died  with  Judge  Gould.  It  was  a  private 
enterprise,  and  when  such  really  great  men  in  law  as 
Judge  Reeve  and  Judge  Gould  ceased  to  live  there 
were  none  both  able  and  willing  to  conduct  it.  The 
mantles  of  such  eminent  lawyers  could  fall  on  few, 
and  those  few  did  not  prefer  this  line  of  life. 

I  might  mention  other  families  in  Litchfield,  for 
there  was  scarcely  any  family  whose  sons  and  daugh 
ters  might  not  be  found  on  the  fields  of  the  West  and 
South,  building  up  this  great  Republic.  At  this  time, 
Dr.  LYMAN  BEECHER  was  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Litchfield.  His  house  was  just  across  the 
street  from  Mrs.  Lord's,  where  I  boarded,  and,  as  my 
window  was  on  that  side  of  the  house,  I  used  often  to 


Personal  Memories.  189 


see  him  and  hear  his  violin,  of  which  he  was  very 
fond,  sending  forth  merry  tones.  It  is  said,  that  he 
would  return  from  a  funeral  and  send  forth  the  quick 
est  airs  from  his  fiddle.  He  was  of  the  most  cheerful 
temperament,  as  I,  who  knew  him  for  thirty  years, 
can  well  testify.  Few  clergymen — probably  none — 
have  been  more  noted,  more  able,  and  I  may  add 
more  useful  than  Dr.  Beecher.  He  was  then  in  his 
prime.  It  was  in  Litchfield,  the  year  after  I  left  there, 
that  he  delivered  his  celebrated  lectures  on  temperance. 
It  was  a  good  place  to  begin  work,  for  Litchiield  had 
several  able  and  distinguished  men,  who  died  or  lost 
their  influence  by  intemperance.  Dr.  Beecher  was 
called  the  "great  gun  of  Calvinism/'  and  it  seemed 
to  me  the  very  irony  of  fate  to  see  him  tried  ten 
years  after  by  the  Presbyter}7  of  Cincinnati  for  heresy 
in  Calvinistic  Theology.  In  the  meanwhile,  he  had 
been  called  to  one  of  the  principal  churches  of  Bos 
ton  to  combat  Unitarianism.  Whether  he  had  much 
to  do  in  repressing  it,  I  know  not.  But  it  is  certain 
Unitarianism  has  grown  very  slowly  since  that  time. 
At  the  time  I  was  in  Litchfield,  the  Congregational 
Church  on  the  little  green  embraced  two-thirds  of  the 
people  of  the  village,  and  more  than  that  in  the  sur 
rounding  country.  Dr.  Beecher  was  so  far  superior  to 
all  other  preachers  of  that  section,  that  all  the  students 
who  went  to  church  at  all  went  to  his  church.  I  was 
.always  a  regular  attendant,  not  losing,  I  think,  more 
than  two  or  three  Sundays  while  I  was  there.  Dr. 
Beecher  was  remarkable  for  great  irregularity  in  what 
may  be  called  the  quality  of  his  sermons.  There  was 
none  inferior,  but  there  were  times  when  he  was  dull. 
A  friend  said  to  me  once  that  he  had  heard  much  of 


140  Personal  Memories. 

Dr.  Beecher,  and  went  to  hear  him,  but  he  never  heard 
a  duller  sermon.  I  can  realize  that  might  have  been, 
but  Dr.  Beecher  was  at  times  exceedingly  eloquent. 
His  spells  of  eloquence  seemed  to  come  on  by  fits.  One 
very  hot  day  in  summer,  and  in  the  afternoon,  I  was 
in  church  and  Dr.  Beecher  was  going  on  in  a  sensible, 
but  rather  prosy,  half  sermon,  when  all  at  once  he 
seemed  to  recollect  that  we  had  just  heard  of  the 
death  of  Lord  Byron.  He  was  an  admirer  of  Byron's 
poetry,  as  all  who  admire  genius  must  be.  He  raised 
his  spectacles,  and  began  with  an  account  of  Byron, 
his  genius,  wonderful  gifts,  and  then  went  on  to  his 
want  of  virtue,  and  his  want  of  true  religion,  and  finally 
described  a  lost  soul,  and  the  spirit  of  Byron  going  off, 
wandering  in  the  blackness  of  darkness  forever !  It 
struck  me  as  with  an  electric  shock,  and  left  an  im 
perishable  memory. 


Personal  Memories.  141 


CHAPTER   X. 

Return  to  Cincinnati — Voyage  Down  the  Ohio — Judge 
Baldwin — Judge  Torrence — My  Case — Nicholas  Long  - 
worth — Martin  Baam — Peyton  Symmes — Dr.  Wilson 
— Father  Burke — Churches  in  Cincinnati — Bishop 
Fenwick — Aydelotte — Johnson — Jacob  Biirnet,  his  Use 
ful  Life— David  K.  Este— Nathaniel  Wright— Gazley 
—  William  Lytle— Robert  Lytle. 

THE  time  had  now  arrived  when  I  was  to  begin  my 
professional  life,  if  such  I  was  to  have.  In  May,  1825, 
I  started,  in  company  with  my  father,  for  Ohio,  where, 
as  it  was  intended,  and  it  turned  out  in  fact,  I  was  to 
remain.  We  went  by  the  route  through  New  York, 
via  Buffalo.  At  that  time  a  large  part  of  the  New 
York  and  Erie  Canal  was  completed.  It  seemed  to 
my  inexperienced  mind  that  nothing  could  be  more 
pleasant  than  a  calm,  unruffled  voyage,  without  dan 
ger  or  noise,  and  with  time  to  read  and  observe  the 
scenery,  in  a  nice,  well-fitted  canal-packet.  So,  we 
took  passage  in  such  a  packet  for  Albany  to  Utica, 
ninety-five  miles.  Never  was  a  youthful  vision  so 
speedily  and  so  utterly  dispelled !  The  quiet  and 
beautiful  canal-boat  proved  to  be  the  dullest,  the  most 
tedious,  the  most  wearisome  of  all  earthly  convey 
ances.  Arrived  at  Utica,  we  were  too  glad  to  take  an 
old-fashioned  stage-coach,  and  complete  our  journey 
to  Buffalo.  At  that  time  the  beautiful  towns  and 
villages  of  Western  New  York  had  just  risen,  fresh 


142  Personal  Memories. 

with  the  newness  of  white  houses  and  green  fields, 
while  here  and  there  a  calm  and  smiling  lake,  with 
its  glassy  surface,  contrasted  with  the  sky  above  and 
the  green  earth  around.  It  was  a  lovely  scene,  and 
the  more  so  to  me,  as  I  had  just  come  from  the  rocks 
and  mountains  of  the  highlands. 

Arrived  at  Buffalo,  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  we 
were  met  by  one  of  those  lake  storms  which  are  char 
acteristic  of  that  region.  The  wind  blew  fiercely,  the 
rain  poured  down,  and  it  rapidly  grew  colder;  and  in 
what  should  have  been  the  warm  and  blooming  spring, 
we  were  sitting  at  the  hotel,  half  shivering  round 
the  fire.  That  day  we  took  the  stage,  on  the  lake 
shore,  for  Erie.  The  road  led  through  the  then  fa 
mous  Cattaraugua  Swamp,  almost  impassable,  even  in 
summer.  Then  the  corduroy  bridges  and  mudholes 
presented  a  dismal  prospect.  The  driver,  to  avoid 
them,  often  drove  into  the  edge  of  the  lake,  where 
the  water  was  shallow.  Now  the  traveler  is  borne 
rapidly  along  by  the  Lake  Shore  Railroad,  which  an 
nually  carries  its  millions  to  the  far-off  shores  of  Lake 
Superior,  where  already  cities  are  springing  up  and 
new  states  are  formed. 

At  length  we  arrived  at  Erie,  and  thence  passed 
through  Pittsburg  and  down  the  Ohio.  At  Pittsburg 
my  father  took  me  to  call  on  HENRY  BALDWIN,  an  old 
pupil  of  his  in  New  Haven.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  a  dis 
tinguished  lawyer,  but  then  very  much  engaged  with 
iron  manufacture.  He  took  me  to  see  one  of  the 
great  rolling-mills  for  which  Pittsburg  was  even  then 
famous.  I  have  been  through  Pittsburg  many  times, 
and  never  without  seeing  the  flames  and  smoke  which 
were  continually  pouring  out  of  its  great  iron  works. 


Personal  Memories.  143 

Mr.  Baldwin  afterward  became  a  member  of  con 
gress  and  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  Ills  brother,  Abraham,  was  senator  from 
Georgia.  Both  were  pupils  and  fast  friends  of  my 
father.  It  was  Abraham  Baldwin  who  introduced 
him  to  the  notice  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  ^ot  him  his 

o 

first  appointment  as  captain  of  engineers  and  teacher. 
You  will  remember  he  was  the  first  teacher,  in  1802, 
at  "West  Point.  Both  these  gentlemen  were  fair  ex 
amples  of  those  young,  active,  and  ambitious  men 
whom  the  little  State  of  Connecticut  was  sending  to 
take  the  lead  in  the  West  and  South.  There  were 
hundreds  of  them,  whose  names  you  will  find  re 
corded  among  the  leaders  of  their  country. 

The  voyage  down  the  Ohio  in  1825,  and  in  a  fast 
steamboat,  presented  a  vivid  contrast  to  that  of  1805, 
in  a  pine-board  ark.  Between  1805  and  1812  had 
come  into  use  for  locomotion  that  mighty  power, 
steam,  now  used  to  move  tens  of  thousands  of  ma 
chines,  supplying  the  labor  of  millions  of  men.  The 
first  steamboat  was  launched  on  the  Ohio  in  1811, 
and  in  1825  there  were  hundreds  on  all  the  waters  of 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi.  All  the  modes  of  locomo 
tion  were  changed,  and  in  this  same  year  (1825)  the 
first  railroad  was  put  in  operation  between  Liverpool 
and  Manchester.  Commerce  received  new  life,  and 
the  face  of  the  world  has  since  been  rapidly  changed. 

I  arrived  in  Cincinnati  in  June,  and  found  it  hot 
enough.  My  first  acquaintance  were  my  relatives, 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Drake.  As  they  were  in  the  midst  of 
society,  and  my  father  was  well  remembered  by  all 
the  old  citizens,  it  did  not  take  long  for  me — who,  I 
found,  was  regarded  as  a  promising  young  man — to 


144  Personal  Memories. 

become  known  to  the  best  people  of  Cincinnati.  So 
far  as  my  memory  extends,  I  will  mention  some  of 
them.  Among  the  first  I  saw  were  GENERAL  and  Mrs. 
JAMES  FINDLEY,  who  were  warm  friends  of  my  father 
and  mother.  lie  was  the  brother  of  William  Findley, 
governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  John  Findley,  mem 
ber  of  congress.  James  Findley  was  receiver  of  pub 
lic  moneys  at  Cincinnati,  in  1805,  when  my  father 
first  arrived,  and  the  families  became  intimate.  He 
was  now  out  of  office,  but  in  good  circumstances, 
living  on  Broadway.  In  that  or  the  following  year 
he  was  elected  to  congress,  from  the  Cincinnati  'dis 
trict.  In  a  few  years  he  died,  and  his  wife  soon  fol 
lowed.  He  was  an  amiable,  kindly  man  of  good 
sense  and  courteous  manners.  Another  family,  and 
connected  with  the  Findleys,  was  that  of  JUDGE  TOR- 
RENCE,  then  president  judge  of  the  common  pleas. 
lie  had  married  Mary  Findley,  a  niece  of  General 
Findley 's.  He  was  a  bluff,  honest,  good-natured  man, 
with  not  much  law,  but  a  great  deal  of  good  principle. 
He  was  very  kind  to  me,  and  I  have  remembered  him 
with  gratitude.  It  was  under  him  that  I  came  to  the 
bar — for  a  very  brief  time.  The  only  case  I  really 
tried,  was  that  of  a  man  who,  standing  on  the  shore 
near  Mill  street,  had  shot  somebody  in  a  boat  upon 
the  river.  The  facts  were  plain  ;  but  I  hit  upon  what 
I  thought  a  happy  expedient  to  clear  him.  The  State 
of  Virginia,  in  ceding  to  the  United  States  the  North 
western  Territory,  had  ceded  it  only  from  low-water 
mark  on  this  shore ;  so  that,  in  point  of  fact  Vir 
ginia  and  Kentucky  hold  jurisdiction  over  the  main 
channel  of  the  Ohio.  The  man  was  shot  in  a  boat 
upon  the  Ohio.  Then  I  rose;  made  to  the  court  what  I 


Personal  Memories.  145 

flattered  myself  was  an  invincible  constitutional  argu 
ment — that  a  crime  being  committed  upon  the  river 
was  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Ohio.  Then  I  was  met 
by  one  of  those  rebuffs  which  young  lawyers  are  apt 
to  meet  with.  The  common-sense  of  Judge  Torrence 
overcame  the  theory  of  the  law.  Judge  Torrence 
said,  that  although  the  crime  might  have  been  out 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  Ohio,  yet  it  had  been  the  uniform 
custom  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio  to  exercise  concurrent 
jurisdiction  over  the  river  ;  and  thus  my  constitutional 
castle  in  the  air  tumbled  to  the  ground.  Judge  Tor 
rence  left  several  sons,  who  have  been  conspicuous 
among  the  citizens  of  Cincinnati,  and  one  among  them 
has  been  mayor  of  Cincinnati  and  member  of  the  state 
senate.  Present  at  this  trial  was  COLONEL  NATHANIEL 
PENDLETON,  who  encouraged  me  in  my  effort,  and  was 
always  friendly  to  me.  His  first  wife  was  a  daughter  of 
Jesse  Hunt,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Cincinnati. 
She  was  well  known  in  her  day,  and  admired  for  her 
piety,  benevolence,  appearance,  and  character.  Col. 
Pendlcton  was  a  leading  member  of  I  he  bar  at  that  day, 
a  popular  man,  and  about  that  time  a  member  of  the 
state  senate.  In  1840,  he  was  the  candidate  of  the 
Whigs  for  Congress,  in  the  great  Harrison  campaign, 
and  was  elected.  Two  of  his  sons  have  been  con 
spicuous  in  the  public  and  social  history  of  the  times, 
holding  important  offices  in  both  state  and  church. 

Another  man  whose  name  has  been  spoken  as  often 
as  that  of  any  other  man  in  Cincinnati,  was  NICHOLAS 
LONG  WORTH.  lie  was  a  lawyer,  who  had  come  to  Cin 
cinnati  at  an  early  day,  from  Newark,  New  Jersey. 
He  soon  became  well  known,  and  continued  so  until 
his  death,  for  some  remarkable  qualities.  He  was 


146  Personal  Memories. 

\  very  shrewd,  sagacious,  quick-witted;  with  great  com- 
1  moil-sense  and  acquisitiveness.  lie  had  little  dig 
nity  or  learning,  hut  had  a  quiet  good  humor,  and  a 
readiness  at  repartee,  which  made  him  popular.  In 
the  latter  part  of  his  life,  and  since  his  death,  he  was 
chiefly  known  as  acquiring  and  holding  a  great  estate. 
A  part  of  this  he  acquired  hy  good  fortune,  a  part  hy 
lns~practice  of  law  ;  hut  far  the  larger  part  hy  saga 
cious  investments  in  real  estate,  which  constantly  rose 
1  in  value  with  the  growth  of  the  city.  He  was  a  Iriend 
of  artists.  He  assisted  Powers,  I  believe,  and  I  know 
he  did  Mrs.  Spencer,  a  noted  painter,  whom  I  found  on 
the  Muskingum  river,  near  Marietta.  He  was  also  a 
noted  horticulturist,  especially  in  strawberries  and 
vines.  It  is  said  that  in  the  Mexican  War  he  offered 
to  raise  a  regiment  on  one  condition.  "What  was  the 
condition  ?  Simply,  that  lie  might  pick  out  the  men  ! 
The  offer  was  not  accepted,  for  however  much  Cin 
cinnati  may  have  been  benefited,  the  government  cer 
tainly  would  not  have  been.  lie  was  said  to  have  as 
sisted  the  poor  liberally,  and  his  house  was  always 
a  hospitable  one,  which  Mrs.  Longworth  and  her 
daughters  made  a  most  cheerful  and  pleasant  place 
of  resort  for  young  men.  At  the  time  I  speak 
of,  Longworth  Jived  on  Front  street,  near  the  present 
Kilgour  place.  He  soon  after  moved  to  "  Hose  Cot 
tage,"  on  Congress  (near  Pearl)  street,  opposite  to, 
and  not  far  from  the  stone  house,  on  the  corner  of 
Lawrence,  built  by  Daniel  Symmes.  In  a  year  or  two 
after,  he  bought  of  the  United  States  Bank  the  square 
on  the  east  side  of  Pike  street  between  Third  and 
Fourth  streets.  The  tine,  large  house  on  it,  and  which 
still  remains  one  of  the  best  and  finest  in  the  city,  was 


Personal  Memories.  147 

built  by  Martin  Banrn.  In  all  these  residences  the 
Longworth  family  were  hospitable,  cheerful,  and  en 
tertaining-. 

MARTIN  BAUM,  whom  I  mentioned,  deserves  to  be 
remembered  by  all  who  have  prospered  in  Cincinnati, 
for  she  had  few  citizens  who  contributed  more  to  her 
service.  He  was,  I  think,  a  German — one  of  the  very 
first  who  came  to  Cincinnati.  He  was  dark  and 
swarthy  in  complexion,  but  of  pleasant  countenance. 
He  was  a  merchant,  of  active  mind  and  public  spirit. 
lie  was  one  of  those  who  after  the  war  with  Great 
Britain — from  1815  to  1820 — embarked  in  great  pub 
lic  enterprises,  which  were  immediately  beneficial  to 
the  town,  but  quite  disastrous  to  themselves.  All  the 
leading  men  engaged  in  them,  however  remote  their 
professional  business  from  commercial  pursuits. 

Among  those  engaged  with  13 a um  and  others,  in 
getting  up  banks  and  manufacturing  companies,  were 
General  Harrison,  Judge  Burnet,  Dr.  Daniel  Drake, 
General  Findley,  Oliver  M.  Spencer,  and  nearly  all  the 
best-known  citizens.  Baum  was,  I  believe,  a  stock 
holder  in  the  Miami  Exporting  Company  Bank,  the 
Cincinnati  Manufacturing  Company,  the  Sugar  Re 
finery,  and  similar  enterprises.  They  all  ultimately 
iailed,  and  are  scarcely  remembered  now  ;  and  yet 
they  did  an  almost  incalculable  benefit  to  Cincin 
nati;  for  they  employed  many  people,  circulated  a 
great  deal  of  money,  and  set  in  motion  a  social  ma 
chinery  which  determined  the  fate  of  Cincinnati,  and 
brought  it  from  a  village  up  to  a  city.  ^Of  course, 
the_sp_ public-spirited  citizens  all  lost  a  part,  if  not  the 
whole,  of  their  property  ;  but  nearly  all  of  them  hav 
ing  held  real  estate,  made  up  by  its  rl-e  for  what  they 


148  Personal  Memories. 

lost  in  speculation.  Baum  was  obliged  to  give  his  tine 
square  and  home  to  the  United  States  Bank  in  pay 
ment  of  debts,  but  managed  to  save,  from  the  despised 
and  weed-covered  Decrcreek  valley,  enough  fora  hand 
some  estate.  When  the  merchants  do  honor  to  their 
profession,  they  will  scarcely  find  one  more  worthy  of 
fame  than  Martin  Baum. 

^  Another  German,  a  Prussian  officer,  and  who  died 
that  year,  was  MAJOR  ZEIGLER.  lie,  as  well  as  Judge 
Burnet,  was,  like  Baum,  of  very  dark  complexion, 
lie  used  to  speak  of  Burnet  and  Baum,  as  his  "  two 
black  brothers."  I  scarcely  knew  him;  but  lie  was 
one  spoken  of  in  society,  and  who  seemed  to  leave  a 
pleasant  memory  behind  him. 

I  mentioned  the  stone  house  at  the  corner  of  Law 
rence  and  Congress  streets.  This  was  built  by  Daniel 
Symmes,  a  brother  of  Judge  John  Cleves  Symmes,  the 
patentee  of  the  Miami  country.  About  the  time  I  came 
out,  in  1825,  this  house  came  into  the  possession  of 
PEYTON  SYMMES,  his  son.  No  picture  of  the  social 
life  of  Cincinnati,  from  1815  to  1840,  would  be  com 
plete  without  Peyton  Symmes.  He  was  seen  in  al 
most  every  gathering — at  the  corner  of  every  street, 
and  at  odd  times  in  newspaper  offices,  and  sometimes 
in  the  theater,  of  which  he  was  very  fond.  If  not  a 
man  of  genius,  he  had  the  eccentricities  of  one,  and 
these  eccentricities  were  entirely  out  of  what  may  be 
called  the  common  line  of  eccentricity.  He  was  un 
worldly  and  unselfish,  and  yet  not  very  generous  or 
benevolent.  He  was  really  a  literary  man  of  a  good 
deal  of  talent;  but  thought  the  dotting  of  an  "  i,"  or 
the  crossing  of  a  "  t,"  was  a  matter  of  supreme  im 
portance.  He  was  great  on  "  hyphens"  and  "  italics." 


Personal  Memories.  149 


Accordingly,  when  an  article  was  to  be  printed,  he 
was  the  terror  of  the  type-setters.  He  would  publish  a 
paragraph,  or  a  couple  of  stanz-is,  and  go  to  the  print 
ing-office  half  dozen  times  to  see  that  the  "hyphens" 
and  the  "commas"  were  exactly  right.  In  this  he 
was  wiser  than  many  writers ;  for,  undoubtedly,  the 
correctness  of  printing  an  article  is  like  good  dress  to 
a  lady,  and  does  much  to  set  off'  natural  beauty. 
With  the  same  zeal  with  which  he  pursued  dots  and 
commas  he  pursued  "  puns."  He  w^as  the  great  pun 
ster  of  the  town  ;  and  there  was  scarcely  anything  he 
could  not  make  a  pun  upon.  Sometimes  people  were 
annoyed  by  his  pun-making;  but,  in  general,  they 
liked  it,  and  were  glad  to  have  something  to  laugh 
at.  Another  practice  he  had  was  pencil  portrait 
taking.  He  had  real  genius  for  that ;  but  his  pencil 
portraits,  while  they  were  generally  very  accurate, 
often  inclined  to  caricatures.  Sy mines  would  some 
times  be  found  at  a  party,  standing  in  a  corner,  with 
a  large  white  card,  pencil  in  hand,  taking  the  por 
trait  of  some  stranger.  He  would  have  dozens  of 
these  portraits  in  his  pockets.  When  the  Duke  of 
Saxe-Weimer  was  in  Cincinnati  he  was  much  amused 
with  this  eccentricity.  When  an  American  gentle 
man  met  the  Duke  on  the  Rhine,  he  asked  about 
several  persons  in  Cincinnati.  He  described  Long- 
worth  and  asked  about  him,  and  about "  the  man  who 
took  pictures  with  a  pencil  on  cards."  With  a  love  for 
literature  and  a  love  of  ease,  and  no  habit  of  indus 
try,  Symmes,  who  had  early  advantages  of  property 
and  business,  closed  his  life  with  little  of  either.  Be 
was  one  of  those  who  please  and  interest  living  society, 


150  Personal  Memories. 

but   who    leave    no   impressions   for  posterity.     The 
water  is  stirred  for  a  moment  and  closes  forever. 

Among  the  noted,  and  certainly  the  most  important 
members  of  society,  are  the  clergy,  and  I  will  here 
describe  the  clergy  of  Cincinnati  in  1825,  as  far  as  my 
memory  can  call  them  up.  The  first  church  in  Cin 
cinnati  was  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  which  was 
built  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Fourth  streets,  where 
itstaiids  now.  It  was  still  the  most  important  church 
in  the  city,  although  several  others  had  been  built. 
The  pastor  of  the  church  was  the  Rev.  JOSHUA  L. 
WILSON,  and  after  making  due  allowance  for  generals, 
lawyers,  and  merchants,  there  was  no  man  in  the  Cin 
cinnati  of  that  day  more  noted,  more  respected,  or 
more  remarkable.  Personally,  I  knew  little  of  him, 
but  his  name  and  acts  in  society  were  known  to  ev 
erybody.  He  was  a  man  amiable  in  character,  just  in 
life,  of  great  authority,  and  scarcely  less  pugnacity. 
With  strong  opinions  and  strong  character,  he  thought 
what  was  worth  preaching  was  worth  fighting  for. 
So,  though  no  Ishmaelite,  his  hand  was  uplifted 
against  the  Ishmaelites  when  they  carnc  in  his  way. 
About  the  1st  of  June,  1812,  two  volunteer  companies 
of  Cincinnati  were  about  to  join  the  army  of  Hull, 
marching  for  Canada.  They,  with  a  large  congrega 
tion,  assembled  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  to 
hear  a  parting  sermon  from  Dr.  Wilson.  My  father 
and  myself  were  among  the  number.  The  doctor 
took  his  text  from  Jeremiah:  "Cursed  be  he  that 
dealeth  deceitfully,  and  cursed  be  he  that  keepeth 
back  his  sword  from  blood."  Whether  the  sermon 
corresponded  with  the  warlike  character  of  the  text, 
I  was  too  young  to  notice.  But  there  is  no  doubt  of 


Personal  Memories.  151 

the  doctor's  zeal  in  a  war  for  the  country  or  a  war  for 
the  church.  Wilson  took  the  Bible  in  the  simplicity 
of  faith  and  its  terms  literally.  It  is  said  he  never 
would  have  a  portrait  or  picture  in  his  house,  because 
it  was  an  image.  lie  was  a  strict  Calvinist,  and 
thought  he  should  earnestly  contend  for  the  faith 
which  was  once  delivered  unto  the  saints.  Accord 
ingly,  when  the  controversy  of  1886-'37  came  on,  he 
was  clad  in  battle  array,  or,  in  the  language  of  the 
Scots,  entered  on  the  foray.  One  of.  the  first  acts  of 
the  war  was  to  call  the  men  who  differed  with  Wilson, 
Breckin ridge,  and  others  of  the  old  warriors,  a  "New 
School,"  although  those  who  heard  Bcman,  Beecher, 
Fisher,  and  others  preach,  could  never  tell  in  what  the 
doctrines  of  the  "New  School"  differed  from  those 
of  the  others.  However,  the  controversy  had  not  at 
this  time  began,  and  Dr.  Wilson,  as  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  was  pursuing  the  peaceful  tenor 
of  his  way.  He  was  a  beloved  pastor  in  his  own  con 
gregation,  respected  by  the  people,  and  many  years 
after  died  much  lamented. 

The  Second  Presbyterian  Church  had  now  come 
into  existence,  and  was,  I  believe,  worshiping  on  Race 
street,  in  an  old  building,  which  was  said  to  be  the 
same  occupied  originally  by  the  first  church. 

At  this  time  there  was  only  one  Roman  Catholic 
church  in  the  city,  and  that  was  near  where  St.  Xa- 
vier  Church  now  is,  on  Sycamore  street.  The  preacher 
at  that  time  was  Bishop  Fenwick,  the  first  Roman 
Catholic  bishop  in  Ohio.  I  remember  one  bright 
Sunday  in  summer  to  have  strolled  into  that  church 
to  hear  what  the  bishop  would  say.  I  forget  what 
was  the  text  or  the  subject;  but  I  remember  to  have 


152  Personal  Memories. 

been  very  much  struck  with  his  illustration  of  the 
doctrine  of  good  works.  He  represented  a  man  as 
going  up  to  the  gates  of  heaven,  and  St.  Peter  weighed 
his  good  deeds  on  one  scale  and  his  evil  deeds  on  an 
other.  The  good  a  little  predominated,  and  into 
heaven  he  was  received.  Bishop  Fenwick  was  much 
respected  in  his  own  church.  The  first  Catholic 
church  in  Ohio — St.  Joseph's,  in  Perry  county — was 
consecrated  by  the  then  Rev.  Edward  Fenwick  in 
1818.  He  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  a  member 
of  the  order  of  St.  Dominic. 

At  the  same  time  there  was  only  one  Lutheran 
church  in  Cincinnati.  This  stood  on  the  north  side 
of  Third  street,  just  east  of  Broadway,  on  the  original 
site  of  Fort  Washington.  For  a  long  time  this  was  a 
small  but  earnest  congregation,  which  a  few  years 
after  removed  to  Sixth  street.  It  was  several  years 
before  the  German  immigration  became  large,  and 
then  the  Lutheran  churches  increased  in  number  and 
magnitude. 

I  do  not  know  much  of  the  Methodist  and  Baptist 
preachers  of  that  day,  but  some  men  among  them 
were  quite  remarkable.  Among  them  was  "  FATHER 
BURKE,"  who  occasionally  preached  in  the  next  few 
years,  but  wras  now  postmaster.  He  was  a  Southern 
man,  and  had  many  of  the  prejudices  of  the  South. 
He  seemed  to  have  lost  his  voice,  and  always  spoke 
low  and  in  guttural  tones.  He  was  always  chewing 
tobacco,  and  being  a  postmaster,  wras  always  a  Demo 
crat.  He  wras  a  strong  Methodist,  and  seemed  an 
amiable  man.  Speaking  of  him  brings  up  the  mem 
ory  of  some  other  people  connected  with  the  post- 
office.  When  we  left  Cincinnati  in  1812,  the  post- 


Personal  Memories.  153 


master  was  COLONEL  WILLIAM  RUFFIX.  His  office  was 
on  Front  street,  near  Lawrence.  Yon  may  judge  from 
this  fact  that  there  was  very  little  of  Cincinnati  west 
of  Main  street  in  1012.  Just  before  we  started  for  the 
East,  we  were  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Drake,  on  Syca 
more  street,  just  below  Fourth  street.  It  w^as  then  I 
witnessed  the  great  tornado,  and  one  of  the  things  1 
remember  was  that  there  were  110  houses  above  Fourth 
street  and  east  of  Sycamore,  except  the  "Sargent 
House,"  in  the  center  of  the  square  bounded  by  Fourth 
and  Broadway.  Looking  southeast,  we  could  see  as 
far  as  Front  and  Lawrence,  with,  only  here  and  there 
a  house  intervening.  The  bottom  below  Third  and 
above  Front  was  even  then  wet  and  swampy,  and  in 
winter  was  frozen  over,  and  furnished  skating  for  the 
boys.  But  we  must  return  to  the  post-office.  The 
daughter  of  Colonel  Ruffin  married  MAJOR  WILLIAM 
OLIVER,  who,  when  Harrison  was  elected  president, 
also  became  postmaster.  When  quite  young,  Oliver 
had  been  a  volunteer  soldier  at  the  siege  of  Fort 
Meigs,  and  performed  good  service.  In  after  times  he 
was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Toledo,  and  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Hall,  is  still  a  proprietor  there.  Oliver 
was  an  amiable  and  intelligent  gentleman,  and  to  the 
hospitalities  of  Major  and  Mrs.  Oliver,  I  was  after 
wards  indebted  for  many  a  pleasant  hour. 

Returning  to  the  clergy.  There  appeared  upon  the 
stage  in  1825  one  whom  I  thought  quite  a  remarkable 
man.  This  was  JOHN  P.  DURBIN  (now  Dr.  Durbin), 
high  in  the  confidence  of  the  Methodist  Church.  Mr. 
Durbin  was  this  year  appointed  professor  in  the  Au 
gusta  (Kentucky)  College.  It  was  after  this,  how 
ever,  that  he  preached  in  Cincinnati.  I  heard  him 


154  Personal  Memories. 

several  times,  and  always  found  him  eloquent  and 
earnest.  He  was  one  of  the  very  few  men  whom  I 
thought  orators.  He  was  not  striking  in  either  im 
agery  or  argument,  and  yet  he  carried  his  audience 
immediately  along  with  him  by  the  fervor  of  his 
thought  and  the  grace  of  his  manner.  He  would 
begin  with  a  very  low  voice,  and  gradually  ascend 
and  warm  with  his  subject.  \V  hy  he  did  not  continue 
a  popular  preacher  I  do  not  know.  He  was  advanced 
high  in  the  church,  but  put  to  other  work. 

There  were,  I  think,  already  (in  1825)  two  Episco 
pal  churches,  Christ's  and  St.  Paul's.  Christ's  (now 
on  Fourth  street)  was  the  original  Episcopal  Church 
in  Cincinnati,  and  it  was  for  several  years  the  only 
one.  My  family  having  been  Episcopalians,  this  was 
the  Church  I  attached  myself  to.  At  this  time  the 
pulpit  was  vacant,  and  I  was  one  of  the  original  meet 
ing  which  called  the  Rev.  B.  P.  AYDELOTTE.  He  minis 
tered  to  the  church  for  many  years,  and  it  has  grown 
up  to  be  one  of  the  largest  and  most  efficient  churches. 
Dr.  Aydelotte,  in  after  years,  became  president  of 
Woodward  College,  and  has  since  been  an  author  and 
philanthropist — in  all  situations  adorning,  by  his  life 
and  worth,  the  profession  to  which  he  belongs. 

Of  St.  Paul's,  which  either  began  at  this  time  or 
soon  after,  the  Rev.  SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  was  pastor, 
who  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  congregation,  and 
whose  name  has  been  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 
Such  was  the  general  state  of  the  church  and  clergy 
in  1825.  The  city  had  more  churches  in  proportion 
to  its  population  than  it  has  now  ;  but  I  do  n't  think 
the  standard  of  religion  was  any  higher.  It  is  true 
the  immigration  from  Europe  of  many  free-thinkers, 


Personal  Memories.  155 


the  multiplication  of  amusements,  the  worldly  spirit, 
and  the  fashionable  life  and  luxury  which  are  so  ap 
parent  on  the  surface  of  society,  gives  an  impression 
that  the  church  has  not  grown  much  in  numbers 
and  strength  ;  but  a  closer  examination  will  show  that 
tlie_church  never  was  so  strong,  so  earnest,  or  so  ef 
fective  in  its  work,  as  it  is  to-day. 

Lot  us  now  look  at  the  bar.  .Lawyers  will  always 
be,  as  a  profession,  men  of  mark  and  influence  in  so 
ciety,  because  they  arc,  in  the  average,  the  best  edu 
cated  class,  and  because  they  have  most  to  do  with, 
business,  and  because  the  law  commands  respect.  At 
this  time  there  could  not  have  been  more  than  forty 
lawyers  at  the  bar,  and  three  or  four  of  them  had 
really  retired  from  practice.  In  this  small  body  were 
several  men  of  mark  and  influence — men  of  mind, 
and  weight,  and  character — some  of  whom  had  influ 
ence  on  the  na'ion.  I  will  mention  two  or  three.  At 
the  head  of  the  bar,  undoubtedly,  though  now  retired 
from  practice,  was  JACOB  BURNET.  This  gentleman 
was  the  son  of  Dr.  Burnet.  of  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
a  distinguished  man  in  the  Revolution.  Jacob  stud 
ied  law,  and  about  1797  came  out  to  Cincinnati,  where 
he  subsequently  married  Miss  Rebecca  Wallace,  daugh 
ter  of  the  former  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  ever  after  continued  to  reside  in  Cincinnati.  Bur- 
net  at  first  boarded  at  the  tavern  on  Front  street,  kept 
by  Griffin  Yeatman.  Public  houses  for  travelers  then, 
and  for  thirty  years  after,  had  only  two  names,  "tav 
erns'7  and  houses  of  "  private  entertainment."  The 
former  were  plain,  honest  taverns,  and  the  latter  more 
like  private  houses.  "Hotels,"  "  restaura'nts,"  "sa 
loons,"  and  a  whole  class  of  modern  hostelries,  were 


156  Personal  Memories. 

unknown,  and  so  were  also  the  enormous  prices  and 
notorious  shams  of  puhlic  houses  in  this  day.  Good 
board,  lodging,  and  reasonable  comforts  conld  be  had 
then,  and  for  thirty  years  after,  for  one-third  the  prices 
of  the  present  day.  What  have  we  gained  with  our 
enormous  prices  and  imitation  of  European  shams? 
Luxury,  intemperance,  extravagance,  peculation, 
fashion,  and  ambition,  which,  in  people  without  fixed 
principles,  lead  to  unbounded  desires  and  unconscion 
able  means  for  their  gratification.  There  was  intem 
perance  then,  and  much  of  it  in  the  highest  classes 
of  society,  and  beyond  doubt  we  have  in  that  respect 
improved.  But  there  were  no  low  grog-shops  at 
every  corner,  tempting  and  seducing  workingmon,  and 
thus  impairing  the  very  strength  of  society.  Burnet 
boarded  at  Yeatrnan  Tavern,  on  Front  street,  a  short 
distance  from  Fort  Washington,  associating  with  the 
officers  and  gentlemen  of  the  then  village  of  Cincin 
nati,  which  he  well  described. 

Here  I  want  to  say  a  word  for  "  Old  Griff,"  as  he 
was  called  fifty  years  afterward.  His  tavern  was 
well  liked  by  his  customers,  and  I  know  of  no 
one  who  was  for  half  a  century  so  popular  in 
Cincinnati.  Years  after  the  time  I  speak  of  he 
left  tavern-keeping,  and  was  elected  recorder  of  the 
county,  an  office  which  now  has  immense  business, 
but  was  then  of  small  dimensions.  "Old  Griff" 
did  his  business  well,  and  with  his  plain,  blunt  honest- 
ness,  satisfying  everybody.  Often  I  have  carried  deeds 
to  the  office  and  found  him  sitting  in  the  same  old 
chair,  writing  in  the  record  book,  looking  up  with  a 
smile,  and  spitting  out  tobacco,  of  which  he  was  a 
great  chewer.  The  host  of  the  Front  Street  Tavern, 


Personal  Memories.  157 

though  not  a  great  man,  was  a  better  one,  who  thought 
nothing  human  beyond  his  care.  Such  a  character  was 
the  puzzle  and  opprobrium  of  politicians,  who  would 
nominate  somebody  else  for  recorder,  but  were  invari 
ably  defeated.     "  Old  Griff"  kept  his  chair  in  the  re 
corder's  office  until  death  laid  him  in  the  grave.     At 
his  tavern,  Burnet,  as  I  have  said,  for  some  time  boarded, 
and  was  intimate  with  the  officers  of  the  Garrison, 
in  Fort  Washington.     With  one  of  them  he  became  a 
life-long  friend,  and  at  length  did  much  to  make  him 
President  of  the  United  States.     This  was  WILLIAM 
HENRY  HARRISON,  then  a  lieutennant  in  the  Fort,  who 
having    escaped   the   danger   of    intemperance,   then 
abounding  among  the  officers,  and  the  dangers  of  dis 
ease,  of  field,  and  flood,  was,  in  1840,  elected  President 
of  the  Republic.   No  man  did  so  much  for  his  election 
as  Jacob  Burnet,  whose  intimacy  with  him  began  in 
Fort  Washington.    Burnet  had  come  out  as  a  lawyer, 
and  in  that  profession  he  began  and  grew  with  the 
city,  in  whose  name,  and  fame,  and  interests  he  was 
at  all  times  no  small  part.     In  that  day,  to  practice 
law  at  Cincinnati  required  the  lawyer  to  ride  the  cir 
cuit.     And  what  was  the  circuit  ?     No  less  than  the 
whole   Northwestern  Territory,  now  comprising  five 
states  and  ten  millions  of  people.    In  the  circuit  wliicti 
Burnet  rode,  were  Marietta,  Detroit,  and  Vincennes. 
He  would  tell  of  hair-breadth  escapes  by  field  and 
flood.     Here  there  were  almost  impassable  swamps, 
and  there  unfordable  streams.     One  night  they  were 
belated  in  making  a  certain  point,  and  their  horses 
stopped   suddenly   and    would    not    go.      They   got 
off  and  had  to  camp  there.    Next  morning  they  found 
the  horses  had  stopped  just  at  the  edge  of  a  precipice 


158  Personal  Memories. 

which  overhung  Wolfe  Creek.  At  other  times  they 
would  stop  in  an  Indian  village  *  and  he  caressed  hy 
greasy  squaws,  and  joked  with  hy  swarthy  warriors. 
Such  was  a  part  of  the  Cincinnati  lawyers'  practice  in 
the  close  of  the  last  century.  Burnet  says  that  when 
he  came  to  the  bar,  there  were  nine  lawyers,  who,  all 
hut  one,  hecame  intemperate.  The  officers  of  Fort 
Washington  were  hard  drinkers,  and  this  led  the  citi 
zens  to  he  intemperate.  In  a  few  years,  Burnet  was 
the  sole  survivor  of  the  early  Cincinnati  har.  When  I 
came  hack,  Burnet  had  retired  from  active  husiness, 
hut  was  still  the  most  influential  private  citizen. 

He  had  taken  great  interest  in  the  early  improve 
ments  of  the  city,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  yet  at 
this  time,  when  retired,  he  was  spoken  of  as  without 
public  spirit,  and  rather  illiberal.  The  very  reverse  was 
the  fact,  and  to  illustrate  how  much  was  clone  hy  the 
early  citizens  of  Cincinnati  to  aid  its  progress,  I  will 
mention  what  he  once  told  me  in  a  conversation  upon 
public  improvements.  He  said  that  he  had  paid  for 
public  enterprise  full  §80,000,  and  lost  nearly  the 
whole  of  it.  He  was  a  stockholder  in  the  Cincinnati 
Manufacturing  Company,  the  Sugar  Refinery,  the  Iron 
Foundry,  at  the  corner  of  Lawrence  street,  the  Mi 
ami  Exporting  Company  Bank,  and  perhaps  some 
others.  The  stock  in  these  companies  was  a  total  loss, 
except  the  bank,  whose  assets  subsequently  paid  some 
thing.  The  upshot  of  all  this  was  that  he  became 
largely  indebted  to  the  United  States  Bank,  and  for 
that  debt,  sold  the  square  on  which  the  Burnet  House 
and  Shillito's  store  now  stands,  for  §25,000.  This  was 

*  Burnet's  Notes  on  the  Northwest  Territory. 


Personal  Memories.  159 

in  1825,  and  the  price  was  about  one-fortieth  part 
of  what  the  ground  alone  is  now  worth.  Burnet,  how- 
evej,  held  a  large  amount  of  city  lots,  in  what  was 
then  almost  out  of  the  city,  and  to-day  is  the  very 
heart  of  it,  where  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  now 
stands,  and  extending  through  to  Sixth  street  market. 
It  need  not  be  supposed,  therefore,  that  Burnet,  Baum, 
and  other  enterprising  citizens  of  that  day  died  poor. 
On  the  contrary,  some  of  them  left  large  estates,  anct 
nearly  all  had  a  competency.  Judge  Burnet  lived 
nearly  thirty  years  after  the  financial  storm  had  passed 
by.  He  had  ceased  the  practice  of  the  law,  but  in  the 
meanwhile  entered  upon  public  life.  A  few  years  after, 
he  was  elected  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio, 
where,  as  in  everywhere  else,  he  was  distinguished  for 
great  acuteness  of  intellect  and  solid  integrity.  Yet, 
B^rnet^was_by  nature  and  by  habit  of  inind,  a  lawyer 
— that  is,  not  merely  a  man  acquainted  with  law,  but 
a  man  who  always  has  a  side,  and  who  thinks,  whether 
by  a  virtue  of  a  fee,  or  of  his  own  opinion,  that  his 
side  ought  to  prevail,  unless  lie  changes  for  cause.  It 
was  related  of  Burnet,  in  his  early  practice,  that  he 
defended  a  man  for  stealing  an  ax,  and  by  his  ability 
had  him  acquitted.  Just  then,  as  Burnet  looked  round 
for  his  client,  the  man  had  slipped  out  without  paying 
the  fee.  Upon  this,  Burnet  said :  "  Well,  I  really 
think  that  man  was  guilty  after  all." 

Burnet,  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  mani 
fested  a  good  deal  of  the  same  acuteness,  and  the  same 
one-sidedness.  He  gave  dissenting  opinions,  which 
manifested  more  of  his  own  opinion  than  of  law.  ]^o 
man  ever  questioned  his  integrity,  but  no  man  ever 
knew  him  swerve  from  his  own  side.  After  the  Whig 


160  Personal  Memories. 

party  was  formed,  Burnet  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate.  When  asked  about  his  politics  Burnet 
would  smile  and  say,  "  I  am  a  Federalist,  sir."  But^no 
man  was  a  stronger  Whig,  and  few  men  a  stronger 
partisan.  It  was  impossible  for  him  not  to  have  been 
a  partisan.  In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  as  in 
all  the  remainder  of  his  life,  he  belonged  to  the  great 
Whig  party,  and  was  fully  up  to  the  level  of  its  great 
leaders,  Clay  and  Webster.  He  was  intimate  with  them, 
with  Harrison,  Crittenden,  and  others  of  the  brilliant 
circle  of  public  men  who  have  not  been  equaled  since, 
and  whom  to  tliiuk  of  makes  me  almost  doubt  whether 
this  age  oT  leveling  has  not  also  leveled  genius  and 
dignity.  Judge  Burnet  was  present  in  the  senate  when 
Daniel  Webster  delivered  his  great  speech  in  reply  to 
Colonel  Hayne.  Much  as  I  have  read  and  admired 
that  speech,  I  got  a  higher  idea  of  it  from  his  descrip 
tion  of  the  manner  and  effect  of  it.  He  described  it  as 
most  impressively  delivered,  and  as  listened  to  with 
wrapt  attention.  Well  it  might  be,  for  it  was  not  only 
a  most  perfect  piece  of  oratory  in  itself,  more  forcible 
and  argumentative,  but  very  much  like  some  of  Cicero's. 
But  it  was  also  the  argument,  the  reply,  which  annihi 
lates  the  argument  for  nullification  and  secession.  It 
was  a  demonstration  that  such  proceedings  must  ulti 
mately  result  in  war.  If  Webster  could  have  known 
or  foreseen  the  effects  of  that  speech  on  the  minds  of 
the  young  men  in  the  country,  he  would  have  thought 
the  presidency  a  little  thing  compared  with  this  crown 
of  his  reward  in  forming  the  public  mind  of  the  nation. 
With  so  cool  a  temperament  and  so  acute  an  intellect, 
Judge  Burnet  was  a  witness,  who  may  be  trusted  for 
the  truth  of  history.  The  most  important  part  Burnet 


Personal  Memories.  161 

took  in  politics  was  that  of  a  delegate  to  the  Whig 
convention  at  Harrisburg,  in  1889.  He  was  there  the 
leading  representative  from  Ohio,  in  favor  of  General 
Harrison.  He  had  been,  as  I  have  said,  intimate  with 
Harrison,  when  the  latter  was  a  lieutenant  in  Fort 
Washington,  and  he  was  a  man  who  never  gave  up  his 
side.  So  when  Harrison  was  brought  out  for  the 
presidency  he  became  a  strong  advocate  of  the  General, 
and  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  never  had  an  abler  or  more 
active  adherent  than  Bur  net.  I  was  told  by  a  delegate 
from  New  York,  who  was  in  favor  of  Scott,  that  no 
man  in  the  convention  did  as  much  for  Harrison  as 
Burnet.  The  result  is  now  history,  Harrison,  ninth 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  Burnet,  his  advo 
cate,  now  lie  in  that  silent  grave  where  presidents  and 
judges,  heroes  and  their  followers,  are  alike  leveled 
with  the  dust. 

Two  or  three  other  members  of  the  bar  may  be 
mentioned  on  account  of  their  subsequent  career. 
One  of  these  was  DAVID  K.  ESTE,  who  came  to  Cin 
cinnati  about  1813.  He,  like  Burnet  and  Longworth, 
was  a  Jerseyman,  and,  like  them,  very  success 
ful.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Nassau  Hall  (Princeton), 
and,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  the  oldest  living  graduate. 
He  died  in  his  ninety-first  year,  and  one  of  several 
members  of  the  Cincinnati  Bar  who  have  shown  re 
markable  longevity.  He  was  a  good  lawyer,  but  chiefly 
distinguished  for  courtesy  of  manners,  propriety  of 
conduct,  and  success  in  business.  Like  Burnet,  he  was 
one  of  those  cool  and  careful  temperaments,  who  are 
incapable  of  being  excited  beyond  a  certain  point,  and 
who  never  commit  themselves  out  of  the  way.  He 
was  several  years  president  judge  of  the  common 


162  Personal  Memories. 

pleas,  and  acquired  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  bar. 
"With  that  he  also  acquired  a  large  fortune,  made  by 
investing  the  surplus  avails  of  his  practice  in  real 
estate,  which  rose  rapidly  in  value.  Here  I  may  add, 
that  while  we  see  many  people  who  have  accumulated 
large  property  by  trade,  I  will  venture  to  say  that  the 
Jerseymen,  who  came  to  Cincinnati,  and  who  all  stuck 
to  real  estate,  got  more  property  in  the  aggregate  than 
all  the  leading  merchants  of  the  city.  Este  died  at 
ninety-one,  and  his  longevity  brings  to  my  mind  some 
things  he  related  of  Dr.  Eush,  of  Philadelphia.  His 
brother  persuaded  him  to  attend  medical  lectures  one 
winter.  He  was  much  interested,  and  told  me  the  last 
remarks  of  the  celebrated  professor.  In  his  last  lecture, 
Dr.  Eush  said:  "Young  gentlemen,  I  have  taught  you 
the  resources  of  the  profession,  I  have  told  you  of  the 
necessity  of  temperance,  of  air,  of  exercise,  and  diet, 
but  one  thing  I  have  not  told  you.  The  exercise  of  the 
mind  is  as  necessary  as  that  of  the  body.  Let  no  day 
pass  without  reading  or  reflecting  upon  some  subject 
for  an  hour  or  two.  Young  gentlemen,  your  health  is 
in  your  own  hands."  Judge  Este  was  always  careful 
of  his  health,  and  often  quoted  Dr.  Eush  as  authority. 
He  was  an  Episcopalian  in  the  church,  a  gentleman  in 
society,  and  a  Eepublican  in  politics.  After  a  worthy 
life,  he  died  respected  by  all  classes. 

Another  lawyer  of  that  day,  who  died  recently  in  his 
ninetieth  year,  was  JAMES  W.  GAZLEY.  He  came  to 
Cincinnati  at  an  early  day,  and  practiced  law,  but  was 
rather  given  to  politics.  In  1819-1820,  he  was  elected 
to  congress  from  the  Cincinnati  district,  against  Gen 
eral  Harrison.  It  was  rather  surprising  at  the  time, 
since  one  would  have  thought  that  such  a  man  as  liar- 


Personal  Memories.  103 


rison  would  have  been  elected  at  once.  The  election 
was  affected,  however,  by  circumstances  arising  out  of 
the  great  financial  difficulties  which  were  then  in  mid- 
crisis.  Some  question  arose  about  aristocracy,  and 
Gazlay  represented  the  plebeian  interests  and  was 
elected  to  congress.  lie  was  not  re-elected,  and  after 
that  did  little  at  the  bar.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
he  retired  to  the  country,  and  was  much  engaged  in 
writing.  lie  was  a  patriotic  man,  lived  respectably, 
and  died  old. 

NATHANIEL  WRIGHT  was  another  of  the  old  lawyers, 
who  died  recently  at  eighty-eight  years  of  age.  He 
was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  began  life,  as 
many  lawyers  have  done,  as  a  school-teacher.  He  came 
to  Cincinnati  several  years  after  Este,  married  a  niece 
of  Judge  Burnet,  and  soon  got  into  good  practice.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  of  which  he  was  an  elder  until  death.  Mr. 
Wright  was  a  good  lawyer,  but  was  never  in  public 
life. 

Another  noted  lawyer  at  the  bar  was  BELLAMY 
STOKER,  lie  was  a  New  England  mnn,  I  believe  from 
Maine.  lie  had  a  .remarkably  quick  and  sprightly 
mind,  also  a  certain  species  of  humorous  wit.  In  1825, 
when  the  "Crisis  and  Emporium"  was  published  by 
Samuel  J.  Browne,  Storer  was  said  to  be  one  of  the 
''  twenty-five  "  editors  of  that  paper.  I  suppose,  in 
fact,  the  young  lawyers,  who  were  Adams  men,  wrote 
for  the  <;  Crisis,"  of  which,  Browne,  who  lisped  a  little, 
used  to  say,  he  was  "  the  thole  editor  and  proprietor." 
He  may  have  been,  and  yet  the.twenty-five  young  men 
wrote  for  it.  Storer  was,  I  think,  one  of  the  first  three 
judges  elected  to  the  Superior  Court,  of  which  he 


164  Personal  Memories. 

was  an  able  judge  and  ornament  until  near  his  death. 
He  was  once  member  of  congress,  and  became  one  of 
the  principal  members  of  Christ's  Church.  -"Horace 
in  Cincinnati  "  described  his  then  life  as  "  youthful, 
gay,  and  wild,"  but  he  ended  it,  at  the  age  of  eighty, 
as  one  who  had  been  a  judge  in  the  land,  a  legislator, 
and  an  elder  of  the  church. 

I  must  hasten  on.  "  Horace  in  Cincinnati"  whose 
account  of  the  bar  in  1821  was  very  just,  says,  in  his 
16th  Ode : 

With  person  of  gigantic  size, 

With  thund'ring  voice,  and  piercing  eyes, 

When  great  Stentorius  deigns  to  rise, 

Adjacent  crowds  assemble, 
To  hear  a  sage  the  laws  expound, 
In  language  strong,  by  reasoning  sound. 
Till,  though  yet  not  guilty  found, 

The  culprits  fear  and  tremble. 

This  is  the  picture  of  "Joe  Benham,"  as  he  was 
called.  He  was  not  a  "  sage,"  but  he  was  an  orator, 
and  few  men  were  more  impressive  in  power  and  man 
ner.  I  walked  into  the  court-house  one  afternoon, 
when  a  boy  was  on  trial  for  stealing  some  trifling  ar 
ticle.  Except  the  jury,  there  were  not  a  dozen  people 
in  the  house  ;  but  a  more  eloquent  and  pathetic  appeal 
than  Benham  made  for  that  boy,  I  have  scarcely  ever 
heard.  Benham  died  in  rather  early  life.  He  was  the 
father  of  Mrs.  George  D.  Prentice,  of  Louisville,  and 
will  probably  be  remembered  by  his  descendants. 

MR.  CORRY,  father  of  the  present  William  M.  Cony, 
was  then  at  tbe  bar,  and,  I  believe,  mayor  of  Cincin 
nati.  Of  him,  Horace  says : 


Personal  Memories.  165 

"  Slow  to  obey  what  'er  to  call, 
And  yet  a  faithful  friend  to  all ; 
In  person  rather  stout  and  tall, 

In  habits  quite  domestic. 
Devaux  in  elegance  is  found 
To  run  the  same  unvaried  round; 
Ne'er  grov'ling  lowly  on  the  ground, 
Nor  sailing  off  majestic." 

In  1825,  there  were  also  at  the  bar  two  sons  of  Gen 
eral  William  Lytle,  who  had  been  an  early  pioneer, 
and  was  a  gentleman  of  standing  and  wealth.  WILL 
IAM  LYTLE,  the  eldest  son,  was  spoken  of  in  tho  high 
est  terms  both  for  talents  and  character,  lie  was 
consumptive,  and  died  young.  ROBERT  T.  LYTLE  was 
for  several  years  a  marked  man  in  Cincinnati.  His 
father  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  General  Jack 
son,  whom  he  was  thought  to  resemble  in  many 
things.  Robert  was  a  young  man  of  decided  talent, 
and  popular  appearance  and  manners.  So  about  1832, 
when  Jackson  was  at  the  height  of  his  power,  Robert 
Lytle  was  elected  to  congress,  and  became  a  protege 
of  the  General.  When  the  war  on  the  United  States 
Bank  began,  Lytle,  of  course,  sided  with  Jackson; 
but  that  did  not  at  all  suit  his  constituents,  especially 
merchants  and  manufacturers,  who  depended  largely 
on  the  bank  for  money.  So,  in  the  election  of  1834 
there  was  a  revolution  in  the  politics  of  Hamilton 
county,  and  he  was  defeated,  as  I  have  related,  by 
Bellamy  Storer.  Mr.  Lytle  lived  a  few  years  longer, 
but  died  at  an  early  age,  and  left,  behind  him  the 
memory  of  a  brilliant,  generous,  and  popular  man. 

I  have  said  enough  to  show  the  character  of  the  bar 
of  Cincinnati  in  1825.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  no 
larger  number  than  forty,  it  certainly  had  as  large  a 


16G  Personal  Memories. 

proportion  of  gifted  and  remarkable  men  as  perhaps 
ever  adorned  a  similar  body,  and  yet  I  Lave  left  out 
some  (one  in  particular,  to  be  mentioned  hereafter) 
who  were  fully  equal  in  talent  and  standing  to  the 
others.  It  is  noticeable  that  there  were  amonsr  them 

O 

some  examples  of  uncommon  longevity.  Burnef, 
Gazley,  Este,  Wright,  and  Storer  averaged  eighty-five 
years  of  age,  and  two  of  them  reached  ninety  years. 
In  the  year  1825  there  was  a  little  society  of  not  a 
dozen  young  lawyers  assembled  for  mutual  instruc 
tion,  and  at  the  end  of  half  a  centuiy,  four  of  them 
were  living,  and  of  the  forty  lawyers  at  the  bar  then, 
eight  w^ere  living.  This  shows  that  the  pursuit  of  in 
tellectual  professions  is  by  no  means  unfavorable  to 
health ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  regular  exercise  of 
the  mind,  and  a  uniform  life  of  business,  aids,  rather 
than  obstructs,  a  life  of  health  and  happiness.  In 
connection  with  this,  we  may  note  the  remarkable 
fact,  stated  by  Judge  Burnet,  that  of  the  nine  lawyers 
of  the  bar  in  1795,  all  but  one  perished  sots.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  labor,  or  intellectual  excitement,  or  even 
business  cares,  which  shorten  life,  but  the  irregular 
ities,  and  exhaustions,  and  excesses  of  indulgence  and 
intemperance.  The  bar  of  this  day  has  very  little 
intemperance  comparatively,  for  all  things  are  rela 
tives.  This  is  one  evidence  that  society  is  not  going 
backward,  and  that  we  may  expect  better  things  for 
the  future. 

Having  described  all  that  I  know  of  ministers  and 
lawyers,  let  me  proceed  to  notice  doctors  and  editors, 
and  here  we  shall  find  a  much  less  harmonious  scene, 
but  some  characters  who  had  quite  as  much  influence 
on  society. 


Personal  Memories.  1G7 


CHAPTER  XL 

Dr.  Danid  Drake,  Jus  genius  and  character — Dr.   Go- 
forth — Cincinnati  in  1805 — M e< Heal  Practice ;  Drake 
founds  the  Ohio  Medical  College ;  is  turned  out  by  his 
Colleagues;  "Horace  in  Cincinnati;"  Drake's  Mon- 
O'hj   on   the   Death   of   his    Wife — Closes  Daicson — 
diaries  Hammond,  Editor  and  Lowyer — States  liigltts 
in  Ohio — Literary  Institutions — Hiram  Powers — Poets 
—  W.  D.  Gallagher. 

IN  1825,  and  for  many  years  after,  DANIEL  DRAKE 
was  much  the  most  distinguished  physician  of  Cin 
cinnati,  lie  wus  a  man  of  genius,  of  strong  intellect, 
of  warm  temperament,  zealous  and  ambitions.  For 
forty  years  he  was  engaged  in  nearly  all  public  affairs 
— the  founder  of  some,  and  the  friend  of  all  good  in 
stitutions — a  life-long  teacher  in  his  profession,  and 
a  writer  of  no  small  eminence.  In  his  little  book 
called  the  "  PICTURE  OF  CINCINNATI,"  he  did  more  for 
this  city  than  probably  any  one  man  had  then  done, 
and  should  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  those 
who  profited  by  his  labors.  He  was  a  native  of  New 
Jersey,  born  in  1785.  His  father — a  plain  farmer — 
moved  to  Kentucky,  near  Maysville,  and  subsequently 
to  Cincinnati.  The  young  Daniel  seems  for  some 
cause  to  have  been  destined  to  the  medical  profession 
at  an  early  day.  lie  came  to  Cincinnati  while  he  was 
quite  a  youth,  studied,  and  afterward  became  a  part 
ner,  with  the  then  noted  DR.  WILLIAM  GOFORTH.  Of 


168  Personal  Memories. 

this  gentleman,  Drake,  in  some  of  bis  discourses,  has 
given  an  interesting  account.  Goforthwas  one  of  the 
earliest  and  best  of  the  medical  practitioners.  He 
was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  With  a  gold- 
headed  cane,  a  wig,  and  stately  step,  Goforth  went 
forth.  Of  the  kind  of  practice  in  those  days  we  can 
get  an  idea  by  hearing  that  the  learned  doctor  would 
be  called  ont  in  the  night  to  visit  a  patient,  four  miles 
off,  on  Mill  creek  ;  ride  in  the  dark,  sometimes  lead 
ing  his  horse  ;  and  then  get  twenty-live  cents  in  specie, 
besides  a  bite  for  his  horse.  The  doctor,  it  was  said, 
was  a  very  kindly  man,  but  quite  oblivious  of  the  ne 
cessity  of  collecting  or  keeping  money.  Of  course, 
he  did  not  s'ncceed  very  well,  and  some  years  after 
wrent  to  !N"ew  Orleans.  I  have  a  characteristic  letter 
from  him  to  my  father,  in  which,  after  relating  his 
experiences,  he  concludes  with  u  New  Orleans  is  hell 
upon  earth."  This  was  probably  a  correct,  however 
brief,  picture  of  it  at  tlmt  time.  It  was  bad  for  Go- 
iorth,  for  he  got  the  liver-complaint,  and  returned  to 
Cincinnati  to  die. 

At  the  time  Drake  studied  with  Goforth,  the  town 
of  Cincinnati  w^as  a  dirty,  and,  what  some  persons 
will  scarcely  believe,  even  a  marshy  place.  I  have  al 
ready  said,  that  the  bottom,  below  East  Third  street 
to  the  river,  was  a  marsh,  the  river  bank  being  higher 
than  the  land  back.  This  marsh  was  frozen  over  in 
winter,  and  made  a  skating-place  for  boys.  So  also 
Fifth  street,  where  the  government  buildings  are  now 
erecting,  was  an  alder  swramp.  Drake  relates  that, 
when  studying  medicine,  he  resorted  to  the  bowers  of 
Deer  creek.  This  dirty  little  run  had  high  banks, 
overgrown  with  trees,  shrubs,  and  Howers.  There 


Personal  Memories.  169 

Drake,  with  his  books,  and  while  listening  to  the  song 
of  birds,  the  croaking  of  frogs,  and  the  rustling  of 
the  wind,  studied  the  science  which  has  made  Hip 
pocrates  and  Galen,  Boerhave  and  Rash,  famous.  lie 
was  very  fond  of  natural  scenery,  and  in  the  lattc-r 
part  of  his  life  wrote  "  Reminiscential  Letters,"  which 
are  full  of  the  most  beautiful  descriptions,  thoughts, 
and  sentiments. 

Drake  began  his  practice  young  ;  went  into  partner 
ship  with  Goforth,  which  partnership  did  not  flourish 
very  well.  It  was  soon  dissolved,  and  Drake  had 
managed  to  get  enough  to  take  him  to  Philadel 
phia,  there  to  hear  the  lectures  of  the  celebrated  Dr. 
Rush  and  his  colleagues.  Improved  and  stimulated 
by  intercourse  with  great  minds,  he  returned  to  Cin 
cinnati,  to  begin  a  career  which,  in  this  country,  is 
unique  in  the  variety  of  its  incidents,  the  magnitude 
of  its  labors,  and  the  usefulness  of  its  work.  The 
country  was  new  ;  the  town  was  young ;  society  mis- 
eel  lanueo_us_^  arid  every  public  institution  had  to  be 
founded,  and  the  social  character  to  be  formed.  There 
was  no  man  better  fitted  for  this  than  he,  and  no  man 
did  more  of  it.  In  the  course  of  this  varied  career, 
he  was  at  times  involved  in  bitter  controversies,  but 
time  smoothed  them  over,  and  he  lived  to  forgive, 
if  not  forget,  his  enemies.  He  was  a  founder  of  good 
things,  an  author,  teacher,  and  physician.  In  1818- 
18l9,  he  went  before  the  legislature,  and  presented 
personally  his  vie\vs  on  medical  education,  and  pro 
cured  the  charter  of  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio,  and 
of  the  Commercial  Hospital  of  Cincinnati,  both  of 
which  remain  monuments  to  his  memory.  He  had 
been  the  first  medical  student  in  Cincinnati,  and  on  the 


170  Personal  Memories. 

organization  of  the  college  became  the  first  medical 
professor.  It  was  this  which  led  him  into  a  great 
controversy.  He  fell  into  the  error  which  the  Uni 
versity  of  Virginia,  and  several  institutions  of  the 
West,  have  fallen  into — that  of  importing  professors 
from  abroad,  either  from  Europe  or  the  East.  All  of 
these  institutions  found  out  their  error,  and  some  of 
them  by  severe  suffering.  Drake's  medical  college  suf 
fered.  He  got  his  professors  from  the  East ;  and  the 
medical  college  opened,  in  1821,  with  the  announce 
ment  of  Daniel  Drake,  Jesse  Smith,  Benjamin  L. 
Bohrer,  and  Elijah  Slack  as  professors.  The  three 
last  had  been  imported.  Bohrer  was  an  intriguer, 
who  immediately  began  a  cabal  to  supplant  Dr.  Drake. 
There  was  a  great  defect  in  the  charter,  which  made 
the  professors  also  the  trustees ;  so  that,  in  fact,  the 
majority  of  the  faculty  could  turn  out  the  others,  and 
elect  whom  they  pleased,  Bohrer  left  of  his  own 
accord,  but  had  alienated  the  other  professors  fr^m 
Drake.  This  occasioned  a  singular  and  very  ludicrous 
scene.  The  three  professors  met  in  solemn  council, 
Drake  presiding,  when  Smith  moved  the  expulsion 
of  Drake,  and  Slack  seconded  it ;  whereupon  Drake 
put  the  motion,  and  the  founder  of  the  Medical  Col 
lege  of  Ohio  was  expelled  from  the  institution  he  had 
created,  by  the  colleagues  whom  he  had  made !  The 
society  of  Cincinnati  was  not  so  large  then  as  not  to 
sympathize  with  a  medical  quarrel.  The  town  was 
soon  filled  with  partisans,  and  the  medical  war  went 
on  for  nearly  twenty  years.  Twro  years  after  "  Horace 
in  Cincinnati "  wrote  "  Ode  24th,"  on  the  ^Esculapian 
war.-  He  says : 


Personal  Memories.  171 

"  The  warfare  was  begun 
Long  ere  we  shook  with  laughter, 

To  see  Pilgarlic  run, 
And  Dr.  Pompous  after. 

"  And  t'  other  day  we  find 
(Here  none  can  think  me  bouncing) 

Professor  Pill  designed 
To  give  "  one  Een  "  a  trouncing. 

Though  famous  as  a  Turk, 
The  last  seem'd  not  to  mind  him, 

But  promptly  drew  a  dirk, 
And  popt  it  in  behind  him." 

This  is  an  actual  fact.  Dr.  Pill  is  supposed  to  have 
been  Dr.  Morehead,  an  Irish  doctor,  who  was  after 
ward  quite  a  popular  physician.  "One  J3en"  was 
Drake's  brother  Benjamin,  who  encountered  More- 
head  in  the  manner  described.  The  incident  is  trifling, 
but,  it  illustrates  the  manners  of  the  day,  when  Cin 
cinnati  was  yet  a  small  town,  and,  of  course,  partak 
ing  in  all  the  feuds  and  bickerings  of  its  leading  men. 
Twenty  years  scarcely  allayed  these  quarrels,  in  which 
nearly  all  the  then  citizens  of  Cincinnati  were  en 
gaged. 

In  1825,  when  I  arrived  in  Cincinnati,  Drake,  whose 
wife  was  my  cousin,  had  apparently  got  through  with 
those  quarrels — although  they  broke  out  subsequently. 
lie  was  a  bankrupt,  financially ;  had  been  expelled, 
in  the  way  described,  from  the  institution  he  had 
founded  ;  and  was  now  turning  round  to  see  what  the 
world  would  be  to  him.  He  was  poor,  and  nearly  all 
Cincinnati  were  also.  Even  Burnet  had  been  com 
pelled  to  sell  his  house  and  square  for  what  turned  out 
to  be  a  song;  and  Baum,  just  after  building  his  fine 
residence  on  Pike  street,  had  sold  that  and  the  whole 


172  Personal  Memories. 

square  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  The  wealth 
iest  citizens  were  those  who  suffered  most.  Drake  had 
not  been  wealthy,  but  he  had  gone  into  the  specula 
tions  of  the  day,  and  become  one  of  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  the  United  States  Bank.  In  this  condi 
tion,  and  in  the  spirit  of  that  economy  which  few  now 
realize,  he  went  into  a  log  cabin,  at  the  foot  of  the 
hills,  above  Liberty  street,  which  he  aptly  called 
"  Mount  Poverty."  But  he  had  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  was  altogether  too  able  and  brilliant  a 
man  to  be  neglected.  In  the  year  1825  he  was  mak 
ing  arrangements  with  Transylvania  University,  at 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  to  become  a  professor  there— 
which  he  was  for  several  years.  In  the  summer  of 
1825  he  lost  his  wife,  for  whose  loss  he  mourned  as 
few  ever  do.  Annually  he  made  a  pilgrimage  to  her 
tomb,  and  commemorated  her  death  with  an  anni 
versary  hymn,  for  the  composition  of  which  he  had 
much  aptness.  I  quote  the  last  three  stanzas  of  that 
for  1831— in  reference  to  something  he  did  for  the 
then  graveyard : 

"  Thou  lonely  widowed  bird  of  night, 

As  on  this  sacred  stone, 
Thou  may  'st  in  wandering  chance  to  light, 

Pour  forth  thy  saddest  moan. 

"  Ye  giddy  throng,  who  laugh  and  stray 

Where  notes  of  sorrow  sound, 
And  mock  the  funeral  vesper  lay, 
Tread  not  this  holy  ground. 

"  For  here  my  sainted  Harriet  lies ; 

I  saw  her  hallowed  form 
Laid  deep  below,  no  more  to  rise, 
Before  the  judgment  morn." 


Personal  Memories.  173 

The  reference  to  the  "giddy  throng  who  laugh  and 
stray"  round  graveyards  was  very  apt  in  reference  to 
that  of  Cincinnati.  The  principal  graveyard  at  that 
time — the  one  set  apart  to  Presbyterians  and  Episco 
palians —  was  what  is  now  called  "Washington 
Square,"  between  Twelfth  and  Fourteenth,  Race  and 
Elm  streets.  At  this  time  it  was  quite  full  of  graves 
and  grown  over  with  weeds,  and  frequented  by  idlers 
of  all  descriptions.  Here  the  body  of  Mrs.  Drake  was 
deposited,  and  the  doctor  immediately  set  to  work  to 
clear  and  improve  the  grounds.  He  got  some  small 
subscriptions,  cleared  off  the  ground,  and  planted 
trees,  so  that  in  a  short  time  the  grounds  assumed  a 
decent  and  pleasant  aspect.  It  was  perhaps  well  that 
the  home  of  the  dead  was  soon  converted  into  a  park 
for  the  living.  In  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  Spring 
Grove,  at  least  one  generation  of  the  dead  may  rest  in 
peace.  More  than  that  can  hardly  be  expected,  when 
we  reflect  that  in  twenty  years  two  successive  grave 
yards  of  the  pioneers  have  been  broken  up  and  built 
upon  ! 

After  the  death  of  his  wife,  Drake  removed  to  Lex 
ington,  K>.,  but  the  next  year  returned  to  Cincinnati, 
where,  until  his  death,  he  was  known  as  teacher,  jour 
nalist,  and  author,  eminent  at  home  and  distinguished 
abroad.  In  these  characters  we  shall  see  him  again, 

O  ' 

and  especially  in  social  movements,  where  he  was  not, 
only  conspicuous,  but  very  useful  in  his  influence. 

About  this  period  there  were  several  respectable 
physicians  in  Cincinnati,  although  not  distinguished 
as  literary  or  scientific  men.  Among  them  was  Dr. 
Ramsey.  He  was  of  Scotch  descent,  one  of  the  old 
school  gentlemen,  stiff,  starched,  and  stately,  with  his 


174  Personal  Memories. 

queue  and  high-topped  boots,  visiting  his  patients  on 
horseback  or  in  his  gig.  Then  there  were  Pierson, 
Jesse  Smith,  Cramner,  Morehead,  and  others.  We  can 
see  from  this  that  the  medical,  as  well  as  the  legal 
faculty,  at  that  time  was  of  a  high  order  of  talents  and 
attainments. 

Now,  it'  yon  please,  we  will  turn  to  a  very  different 
order  of  men,  and  one  which,  in  all  the  changes  of 
time,  has  an  immense  influence.  I  mean  the  news 
paper  writers.  The  term  "editor"  is  constantly  used 
in  a  false  sense.  The  editor  of  a  book  or  journal  or 
newspaper  is  the  one  who  makes  it  up,  prepares  it, 
and  ushers  it  before  the  public.  He  is  not  necessarily 
the  writer  at  all ;  but,  in  the  economy  as  well  as  ne 
cessities  of  nearly  all  newspapers,  the  editor  is  the 
chief  writer,  and  hence  the  confusion  of  terms.  At 
this  time,  and  I  mean  from  1825  to  1828,  Cincinnati 
had  two  remarkable  newspaper  writers.  These  were 
MOSES  DAWSOX  and  CHARLES  HAMMOND.  The  former 
(Dawson)  was  an  Irishman,  who  then  published  and 
edited  the  Cincinnati  Advertiser,  which,  in  the  new 
formation  of  parties,  become  the  Jackson,  and  subse 
quently  the  leading  Democratic  paper  of  this  region. 
Dawson  was  a  rough,  ungainly  man,  but  quite  a  vig 
orous  writer.  lie  wrote,  I  think,  a  life  of  General 
Harrison,  and  as  the  leader  of  the  rough  and  unedu 
cated  class  of  the  community,  although  respectable 
himself,  was  quite  a  conspicuous  person.  I  was  nat 
urally  averse  to  such  people,  and  so  never  became 
much  acquainted  with  him.  Some  time  after  this, 
CHARLES  HAMMOND  became  editor  of  the  CINCINNATI 
GAZETTE.  Hammond,  of  course,  came  right  into  con 
flict  with  Moses  Dawson,  for  Hammond  was  a  firm 
Federalist  of  the  old  school,  had  edited  a  paper  in 


Personal  Memories.  175 

Belrnont  county,  Ohio,  was  an  able  lawyer,  and  com 
promised  nothing  of  his  opinions  for  anybody.  Such 
a  man  on  one  side  and  an  Irish  Democrat  on  the  other 
would  of  course,  and  actually  did,  make  a  literary  and 
political  pugilism  worthy  of  Donnybrook.  Newspaper 
conflicts  have  never  been  confined  to  polite  usages  or 
tender  language.  So  Dawson  and  Hammond  kept  up 
a  running  fight  which  was  more  worthy  of  Ireland 
than  of  America.  There  was,  however,  no  equality 
in  the  contestants.  Hammond  was  not  only  an  able 
lawyer,  and  familiar  with  the  political  history  of  the 
day,  but  WHS  one  of  the  sharpest  and  most  vigorous 
writers.  While  Hammond  was  firing  rifles,  whose 
balls  invariably  hit  the  mark,  Dawson  would  reply 
with  a  blunderbuss,  heavily  charged,  but  making 
more  noise  than  execution. 

Both  these  men  were  jovial  companions,  and  would 
often  meet  in  a  "  coffee-house,"  as  the  saloons  of  this 
day  were  then  called.  It  was  told  me,  by  one  who  was 
present,  that  they  would  meet  at  a  noted  coffee-house 
on  Front  street,  where  they  would  banter  each  other 
over  their  toddy.  Dawson  would  say  :  "  I  '11  beat  you, 
Charley,"  and  Hammond  would  say  :  "  I'll  give  it  to 
you  in  the  morning."  If  anyone  objects  to  this  un 
dignified  proceeding,  they  will  please  to  remember 
that  it  was  a  counterpart  to  the  convivial  scenes  of 
London,  when  Fox  and  Pitt  frequented  the  club- 
rooms.  But  Hammond  had  a  higher  and  a  nobler 
office  than  Dawson  or  any  other  editor  of  the  West 
could  then  perform.  It  is  singular  that  no  one  has 
prepared  a  memoir  or  sketch  of  this  remarkable  man, 
He  was  born,  I  think,  in  Western  Virginia,  near  the 
Pennsylvania  line,  at  any  rate  near  the  border;  he  set- 


176  Personal  Memories. 

tied  in  Belmont  county,  Ohio ;  practiced  law,  and  was 
known  as  an  able  lawyer,  in  the  day  when  Doddridge, 
ofWest  Virginia,  was  yet  on  the  stage,  and  John  0. 
Wright  and  Tappen  practicing  at  the  same  bar.  He 
had  great  fondness  for  politics,  and  edited  the  leading 
paper  of  that  section.  He  was  a  firm  Federalist  and 
opposed  the  Democratic  party  at  all  times.  Yet  he 
was  found  at  one  time  supporting  the  leading  heresy 
of  that  party,  "  State  Eights."  Of  this,  however,  he 
quickly  repented  and  made  amends  by  a  long,  vigor 
ous  defense  of  the  true  constitutional  doctrine.  The 
occasion  of  his  error  was  the  attempt  of  the  State  of 
Ohio  to  tax  the  United  States  Bank,  branches  of 
which  were  established  in  Cincinnati  and  Chillicothe. 
The  state  taxed  them  §50,000  each.  The  bank  re 
fused  to  pay,  and  the  auditor  of  state  collected  the 
tax  by  force.  Upon  these  proceedings,  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  United  States  ordered  the  money  to  be 
refunded,  which  was  clone,  and  a  case  was  made — that 
of  Osborne  against  the  Bank  of  the  United  States — which 
was  ultimately  decided  in  favor  of  the  bank,  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  The  entire 
principle  was  discussed  and  finally  decided  in  the  case 
of  McCollovgh  versus  the  State  of  Maryland.  In  that 
case,  the  supreme  court  decided  that  the  charter  of  the 
bank  was  constitutional,  being  one  of  the  means  appro 
priate  to  the  objects  of  government ;  that  the  bank 
had  a  right  to  establish  offices  of  discount  and  deposit 
within  any  state,  and  that  no  state  had  a  right  to 
tax  this,  or  any  constitutional  means  employed  by  the 
Government  of  the  Union  for  constitutional  objects. 
This  settled  that  question,  but  it  seems  strange  now, 
and  will  seem  more  so  in  future  history,  that  the  State 


Personal  Memories.  177 

of  Ohio,  in  1820  and  1821,  deliberately  affirmed  the 
States  Rights  heresy  embodied  in  the  Virginia  Reso 
lutions  of  1798,  and  protested  against  the  right  of  the 
supreme  court  to  adjudicate  questions  concerning  the 
states.  It  was  a  series  of  decisions  in  the  supreme 
court  which  bound  the  American  Union  and  educated 
the  coming  generation  into  just  ideas  of  nationality. 
Nevertheless,  it  took  forty  years  of  discussion,  of  nulli 
fication,  of  secession,  and  of  civil  war  to  terminate 
this  political  controversy  and  settle  the  American 
Government  upon,  we  hope,  durable  foundations.  In 
the  proceedings  against  the  bank,  it  was  understood 
Mr.  Hammond  was  the  adviser.  Being,  however,  a 
consistent  believer  in  law  and  government,  he  yielded 
at  once  to  the  decision  of  the  court,  and  never  again 
advocated  the  doctrine  advanced  in  the  Virginia  or 
the  Ohio  Resolutions.  In  fact,  the  whole  affair  was  an 
episode  in  Ohio  history,  produced,  no  doubt,  by  the 
great  and  extraordinary  financial  embarrassments 
which  took  place  between  1819  and  1823.  This  con 
troversy  began  in  1820  and  ended  in  1824.  About 
this  time,  Mr.  Hammond  removed  to  Cincinnati,  where 
he  practiced  law,  and  in  a  short  time,  probably  1826, 
became  editor  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette.  "  Liberty 
Hull"  was  a  weekly  paper,  originally  conducted  by  the 
Rev.  John  W.  Browne.  It  was  for  many  years  the  title 
of  the  present  Weekly  Gazette,  which  was  established 
in  an  early  day.  The  Gazette  was  a  semi -weekly  at 
the  time  Mr.  Hammond  took  it,  and  resembled  in  size 
and  appearance  the  second-class  country  papers  of  the 
present  day.  It  had  been  edited  by  Isaac  Burnet, 
mayor  of  the  city,  and  a  brother  of  Judge  Burnet. 
Hammond  soon  made  himself  felt,  although  the 


Personal  Memories. 


amount  of  editorial  matter  he  furnished  seems  surpris 
ingly  small  when  compared  with  the  ponderous  arti 
cles  of  this  day.  There  wras  a  lesson  in  them,  how 
ever,  which  might  no\v  he  heeded  with  advantage. 
lie  made  up  in  quality  what  he  wanted  in  quantity. 
I  know  of  no  writer  who  could  express  an  idea  so 
clearly  and  so  briefly.  He  wrote  the  pure  old  English 
— the  vernacular  tongue,  unmixed  with  French  or 
Latin  phrases  or  idioms,  and  tin  perverted  with  any 
scholastic  logic.  His  language  was  like  himself — plain, 
sensible,  and  unaffected.  His  force,  however,  lay  not 
so  much  in  this  as  in  his  truth,  honesty,  and  courage, 
those  moral  qualities  which  made  him  distinguished 
at  that  day,  and  would  distinguish  him  now. 

In  1828,  while  editor  of  the  Gozette,  he  edited 
"  TRUTH'S  ADVOCATE,"  a  monthly,  which,  for  about  a 
year,  was  published  by  the  friends  of  Adams  and  Clay 
against  the  claims  of  GENERAL  JACKSON.  Several  his 
torical  and  some  very  able  articles  appeared  in  it. 
Jackson's  illegal  marriage  (for  it  was  illegal,  although 
morally  right),  his  duels,  his  arbitrary  conduct,  his 
despotic  character,  were  all  shown  up  in  strong  colors, 
and  the  account  was,  with  little  exception,  true.  Yet, 
I  could  not  see  that  it  made  any  impression  upon  the 
people,  who  looked  upon  Jackson  as  a  patriotic  man, 
w7ho  had  fought  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  and  beat 
the  British.  The  popular  sentiment  w^as  expressed 
by  Counselor  Sampson,  of  New  York,  in  some  speech 
before  a  jury,  in  which  an  old  soldier  was  a  party. 
"  This  war-worn  soldier,"  said  he,  "  who  bled  upon 
the  field  of  New  Orleans — that  death -bed  of  British 
Glory  !  "  The  popular  feeling  against  the  British  con 
tinued  many  years  after  the  war,  and  Jackson  was  a 


Personal  Memories.  170 


sort  of  popular  synonym  for  the  Anti-British  feeling. 
In  truth,  Jackson  had  more  than  this  form  of  patriot 
ism.  He  was  in  every  sense  patriotic,  and  the  country 
owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  him,  for  his  stern  opposi 
tion  to  the  nullification  scheme,  and  to  all  those  anti- 
national  ideas,  which,  afterward  resulted  in  secession 
and  civil  war.  His  determined  course  postponed  the 
time  of  the  outbreak  and  strengthened  the  feeling  of 
Union,  which  afterward  sustained  the  government. 
That  his  administration  contained  much  evil,  as  well 
as  some  good,  no  future  historian  will  deny.  His 
election  brought  on  a  fierce  and  bitter  controversy, 
which  continued  for  thirty  years,  and  which  termin 
ated  only  in  the  greater  controversy  upon  the  ques 
tion  of  slavery. 

At  that  time,  HENRY  CLAY  was  the  great  political 
leader  in  the  West,  to  whose  fortune,  both  Ohio  and 
Kentucky  steadily  adhered.  Hammond  was  the  per 
sonal  and  political  friend  of  Clay,  often  practicing  in 
the  same  courts.  So  he  made  war  on  Jackson,  and 
was  unrelenting  in  his  attacks.  Although  he  failed 
to  defeat  Jackson,  he  laid  the  foundation  for  the  over 
throw  of  his  successor,  Van  Buren.  Mr.  Hammond, 
although  exercising  a  wide  influence  on  politics  and 
public  men,  was  always  a  private  citizen.  He  seemed 
not  ambitious,  but  on  one  or  two  occasions,  he  re 
jected  office  for  other  considerations.  He  was  asked 
to  accept  the  place  of  supreme  judge,  but  conscien 
tiously  refused  it,  because  he  knew  himself  to  be  in 
some  measure  intemperate.  The  rejection  was  more 
honorable  to  him  than  any  office  could  have  been.  His 
opposition  to  slavery  and  its  influence  on  the  govern 
ment  was  firm,  consistent,  and  powerful.  Probably 


180  Personal  Memories. 

no  public  writer  did  more  than  he  to  form  a  just  and 
reasonable  anti-slavery  sentiment.  In  fine,  as  a  writer 
of  great  ability,  and  a  man  of  large  acquirements  and 
singular  integrity,  Hammond  was  scarcely  equaled  by 
any  man  of  his  time.  We  shall  hear  more  of  him  as 
I  proceed. 

In  addition  to  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  and  the  press,  all 
ably  manned,  there  was,  at  this  time,  some  germs  of  a 
literary  society.  JOHN  P.  FOOTE,  a  native  of  Connec 
ticut,  had  been  for  several  years  a  book  publisher,  and 
took  a  great  interest  in  literary  matters.  He,  in 
connection  with  some  young  men,  of  whom  Ben 
jamin  Drake,  John  II.  James,  and  Lewis  Noble 
were,  I  believe,  a  part,  had  established  a  literary 
paper,  which  continued  for  three  or  four  years. 
In  the  year  1822,  appeared  the  odes  of  u  Horace  in 
Cincinnati,"  which,  at  the  time,  caused  quite  a  sensa 
tion  ;  for  they  were,  in  most  cases,  descriptive  of  well- 
known  persons  and  scenes.  They  were  republished 
in  a  little  volume,  without  the  author's  consent,  and 
were,  as  he  said  in  a  note,  on  subjects  so  local  and 
transitory  as  to  be  of  little  general  interest.  Never 
theless,  many  of  his  descriptions  were  very  accurate. 
The  author  was  not  known  at  their  publication,  but 
was  soon  after  found  to  be  THOMAS  PIERCE,  educated, 
I  think,  a  Quaker,  and  in  business  a  hardware  mer 
chant.  He  died  many  years  since,  and,  except  in  some 
library,  "Horace  in  Cincinnati"  died  with  him. 

At  this  time  also  there  were  the  wrecks  of  several 
literary  schools.  I  have  already  mentioned  that  Wil 
son  and  Drake  were  the  oiiginators  of  the  "  Lancas- 
terian  School."  Lancaster  was  an  English  educational 
reformer  who  was  just  then  in  vogue,  with  a  new 


Personal  Memories.  181 

fashion  in  education — for  education  has  its  fashions, 
as  all  other  things.  His  system  was  that  of  mutual 
instruction  among  the  pupils.  Drake  obtained  the 
chnrtef  of  the  Lancasterian  Seminary,  as  he  did  those 
of  the  Medical  College  of  Ohio  and  the  Commercial 
Hospital  of  Cincinnati.  The  Lancasterian  School  was 
in  operation  several  years,  when  it  gave  place  to  Cin 
cinnati  College.  This  institution  was  chartered  in 
1819,  and  was  part  of  a  system  of  institutions  Drake 
had  devised.  lie  was  in  high  spirits  at  this  time,  and 
wrote  to  one  of  his  friends,  that  many  thousands  of 
dollars  had  been  subscribed  to  the  seminary  ;  that  the 
medical  college  and  hospital  would  soon  be  in  opera 
tion  ;  that  there  was  a  school  of  arts  proposed;  and 
that  Cincinnati  would  soon  be,  what  Lexington  had 
been  called,  the  Athens  of  the  West.  It  was  pre 
cisely,  however,  the  literary  part  which  failed.  After 
a  brief  trial  of  the  Lancasterian  Seminary,  Cincinnati 
College  was  substituted  in  its  place,  and  for  three  or 
four  years  had  classes,  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Rev.  Elijah  Slack.  Several  young  men  who  after 
ward  rose  to  some  distinction,  were  in  this  college; 
but  unendowed  and  dependent  only  on  local  support, 
the  college  soon  ceased  its  regular  classes,  and  its 
charter  was  kept  alive  only  by  a  primary  school.  In 
subsequent  years,  it  was  again  revived,  only  to  die  out 
in  the  same  manner.  The  trustees  had,  however, 
established  a  law  school,  and  recently  two  lectureships 
— one  of  Christian  philosophy,  and  the  other  of  Chris 
tian  jurisprudence.  In  this  way  the  institution  is. suc 
cessful,  and  will,  perhaps,  in  this  form,  do  the  work 
which  the  pioneers  of  education  intended. 

At  the  time  I  returned  to  Cincinnati  all  these  insti- 


182  Personal  Memories. 


tutions  were  comparatively  wrecks,  and  it  remained 
for  the  coming  generation  to  reveal  and  recreate  the 
means  of  education  in  the  metropolis  of  the  Ohio 
Valley.  Drake,  Burnet,  Lytle,  Spencer,  Foote,  "Wil 
son,  and  other  pioneers  in  that  liberal  enterprise,  have 
long  since  passed  away,  and  few  of  this  generation 
remember  their  worth;  yet  it  was,  in  proportion  to 
their  day  and  means,  greater  than  anything  done 
since.  Over  their  graves  there  is  not  a  single  monu 
ment  which  gives  to  the  passing  stranger  an  idea  of 
their  work,  and  the  future  city  of  Cincinnati,  great  in 
arts  and  population,  will  know  little  of  its  founders  or 
or  its  benefactors. 

Some  time  after  this — anticipating  a  little — I  first 
heard  of  HIRAM  POWERS.  I  was  passing  down  Main 
street,  when  I  noticed  some  posts  at  the  corner — per 
haps  Third  street — which  had  been  put,  I  believe,  for 
lanterns.  But,  whatever  the  purpose,  I  noticed  carved 
heads  upon  them.  These  heads  were  so  far  superior 
to  any  of  the  common  wood  carving  that  I  was  sur 
prised,  and  asked  who  did  them.  I  was  told  Hi  ram 
Powers.  He  was  then,  I  think,  in  the  employment  of 
Luman  Watson,  who  was  for  a  long  time  a  clock- 
maker  in  the  city.  He  was  soon  noticed  for  his  re 
markable  facility  in  that  line,  and,  I  may  add,  in 
many  things  which  required  ingenuity.  In  fact, 
Powers  was  a  genius,  one  out  of  only  half  a  dozen  I 
ever  knew.  Soon  after  that — probably  about  1830 — 
he  was  employed  by  Dorfieule,  who  kept  a  museum 
near  the  corner  of  Main  and  Pearl  streets,  to  make 
what  was  for  several  years  called  the  "  Infernal  He- 
gions."  I  believe  he  was  first  engaged  to  make  wax 
figures.  In  a  construction  of  the  "  Infernal  Regions  " 


Personal  Memories.  183 

he  came  as  near  what  might  be  imagined  the  reality 
as  one  could  come.  lie  had  the  fires  burning — Rhad- 
a  man  thus,  the  Judge — darkness  enveloping  the  whole, 
and  an  invisible,  to  the  visitor,  electrical  battery, 
which  nearly  knocked  down  the  unfortunate  visitor 
who  happened  to  touch  the  railing  around.  This  was 
a  popular  affair,  and  remained  in  vogue  several  years, 
when  Dorfieule  gave  up  the  museum  and  retired. 
Powers  was  with  him  for  a  considerable  time  before 
he  engaged  in  sculpture.  How  he  succeeded  in  that 
the  world  knows.  I  have  never  seen  a  memoir  of 
him,  although  a  very  interesting  one  might  be  made. 
Some  encyclopedia  notices  have  been  made,  but  fell 
iar  short  of  giving  a  true  view  of  his  life  and  genius. 
About  this  time  (from  1828  to  1835)  there  were  two 
poets  in  Cincinnati,  who,  I  presume,  are  now  entirely 
forgotten.  They  are  mentioned  in  Everest's  "  Poets 
of  Connecticut,"  for  they  were  both  natives  of  that 
state.  One  was  Hugh  Peters,  a  young  lawyer,  and 
much  esteemed.  lie  was  a  man  of  talent  and  rising 
at  the  bar.  He  began  writing  for  the  New  England 
Review  when  in  college,  but  wrote  several  pieces  in 
Cincinnati.  lie  was  the  author  of  "My  Native 
Land,"  a  patriotic  and  pleasing  poem.  One  verse 
seems  to  have  been  prophetic  : 

''And  I  have  left  thee,  home,  alone, 

A  pilgrim  from  thy  shore; 
The  wind  goes  by  with  hollow  moan, 
I  hear  it  sigh  a  warning  tone, 

'  You  see  your  home  no  more.' 
I'm  cast  upon  the  world's  wide  sea, 

Torn  like  an  ocean  weed; 
I  'm  cast  away,  far,  far  from  thee; 
I  feel  a  thing  I  can  not  be, 

A  bruised  and  broken  reed." 


184  Personal  Memories. 

He  was  found  drowned  in  the  Ohio,  in  June,  I  think, 
1832.  It  was  supposed  he  had  got  np,  as  lie  had  done 
the  night  previous,  in  an  unconscious  state,  harassed 
by  care  or  trouble,  and  gone  into  the  river. 

The  other  name  was  that  of  Edward  A.  MeLaugh- 
lin.  He  was  a  printer,  but  led  a  wild  and  adventurous 
life,  being  in  Cincinnati  some  ten  or  fifteen  years.  In 
1841,  he  published  the  "  Lovers  of  the  Deep,"  in  four 
cantos.  It  was  founded  on  an  incident  connected  with 
the  wreck  of  the  tin  fortunate  steamer  Pulaski. 

Anticipating  time,  I  may  say  that  about  the  same 
period,  William  D.  Gallagher  began  his  career  as  poet, 
editor,  and  writer.  He  is  the  best  known  of  all  the 
"Western  poets,  and  deservedly  so.  Some  of  his  pro 
ductions  are  very  supeiior,  and  ought  to  live  in  any 
collection  of  American  poetry.  It  has  been,  perhaps, 
unfortunate  for  his  literary  fame  that  his  life  has  been 
so  various  and  so  employed  in  business,  that  he  has 
not  been  able  to  woo  the  muses  as  assiduously  as  those 
ladies  require.  At  least,  I  can  imagine  that  he  had 
the  traits  and  talent  to  have  excelled  in  poetry. 


Personal  Memories.  185 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Society  in  Cincinnati —  Parties  —  Theaters  —  Actors  — 
Prevalent  Diseases— Taking  the  Census — Mechanics — 
Strange  Imposition — General  Eoss. 

MY  introduction  to  the  society  of  Cincinnati  was 
easy  and  general.  My  father  went  with  me,  and  no 
body  was  better  known  than  he.  It  wras  just  then 
that  his  friend  and  agent,  Martin  Baum,  had  built  the 
fine  house  on  Pike  street,  I  have  already  mentioned. 
Baum  never  gave  but  one  party  in  that  house,  and  I 
was  there.  It  was  in  the  summer  of  1825,  and  was 
given  in  the  afternoon.  We  went  at  four  o'clock,  and 
came  away  before  dark.  It  was,  I  believe,  only  a  re 
ception  for  gentlemen,  who  had  a  pleasant  time  with 
the  usual  refreshments.  Several  years  after  that,  I 
was  present  in  the  same  house  at  one  of  the  largest  par 
ties  I  ever  attended  in  Cincinnati,  given  by  Mr.  Long- 
worth.  Parties  are  not  a  test  of  society,  unless  compared 
at  very  distant  periods  of  time.  A  fashionable  party  is 
always  the  same,  unless  in  the  differences  only,  which 
difference  of  means  causes.  There  wrill  be  greater  or 
less  numbers,  greater  or  less  display  of  dress  or  orna 
ments,  according  to  the  means  of  the  giver,  or  the 
state  of  the  markets,  or  the  fashion  of  the  times.  The 
lapse  of  half  a  century  has  caused  little  difference  in 
the  elements  of  a  fashionahle  party.  The  cynic  and 
the  philosopher  are  very  apt  to  denounce  it;  but  ac 
tual  observation  of  society  shows  that  even  this  has 


186  Personal  Memories. 

its  uses.  A  fashionable  party  is  almost  always  given 
to  pay  social  debts,  to  celebrate  an  occasion,  or  to 
honor  a  stranger.  If  a  person  has  the  means  to  do  it, 
these  are  commendable  ends.  So  it  is  said,  by  man}', 
that  they  are  bores,  rather  than  means  of  enjoyment. 
That  is  just  as  the  guest  takes  it.  A  sensible  man  or 
woman  can  enjoy  a  large  party  very  much.  It  is  a 
place  where  you  can  seek  what  mode  of  passing  the 
time  you  please,  and  talk  upon  what  you  please.  It 
is  said  that  John  Quincy  Adams,  even  when  presi 
dent,  would  be  found  at  a  large  party  in  Washington, 
sitting  in  the  corner  playing  chess.  No  doubt,  in  an 
other  corner  of  the  room  might  be  found  the  belle  of 
the  season,  surrounded  with  beaux  and  rattling  awav 

o  «/ 

with  light  and  airy  manner ;  and  in  another  some 
noted  lady,  adorned  in  the  splendor  of  dress  and  dia 
monds,  talking  with  a  foreign  ambassador.  Such  a 
party  is,  therefore,  not  a  place  to  be  wholly  denounced. 
At  the  time  I  spoke  of,  there  were  not,  in  Cincinnati, 
the  means  to  make  a  party  as  rich  and  ornamental  as 
there  are  now.  ;' Modern  Improvement"  had  not 
reached  us.  Even  oysters  were  not  seen  at  a  party 
until  1827.  Nor  could  the  beautiful  array  of  "  cut 
flowers  "  be  exhibited  then,  as  they  are  now.  Nature 
produced  as  much,  but  there  was  little  attention  paid 
to  merely  artificial  products,  and  fashion  had  not  made 
these  displays  necessary.  In  fact,  Cincinnati  parties 
in  1825-1826  were  purely  social,  not  for  the  mere  pur 
pose  of  display,  which  is  too  often  the  case  now.  They 
had  an  excess  of  good  things  to  eat  and  drink  ;  but 
with  them  a  large  share  of  good  humor  and  good  con 
versation.  There  was  no  distinction  of  old  and  young, 
fashionable  or  unfashionable,  married  or  unmarried; 


Personal  Memories.  187 

but  while  the  party,  like  a  family,  was  mixed  in  dif 
ferent  proportions,  it  was  always  composed  of  the  well- 
to-do,  the  respectable,  and  the  intellectual.  The  dis 
tinctive  marks  of  pioneer  hospitality  had  not  yet 
wholly  departed.  The  frank  manners,  the  warm  r£- 
ception,  the  bonjimi,  and  the  recognition  of  the  pio 
neer  favorites  had  not  gone.  I  remember  one  party, 
which  was  a  fair  type  of  parties  in  general  at  this  time. 
It  was  at  the  house  of  Col.  C.,  on  Third  street,  near 
Main  street,  where  many  good  families  then  lived,  and 
I  attended  several  parties  on  Third  street.  Col.  C.  had 
a  large  square  house,  the  best  rooms  of  which  were 
on  the  second  floor,  and  the  whole  suite  were  thrown 
open  for  the  reception  and  supper  rooms.  Col.  C. 
had  been  rather  profuse  in  his  invitations.  I  think 
there  were  more  than  two  hundred  persons  present, 
and  the  house  crowded.  In  the  front  room  the  ladies 
and  gentlemen  were  engaged  in  conversation,  as  usual, 
the  ladies  making  no  attempt  at  magniiicent  dresses, 
and  the  gentlemen  paying  no  more  attention  to  young 
than  to  old  ladies,  but  mingling  in  general  conversa 
tion,  and  all  making  themselves  agreeable.  There  was 
no  regular  set  supper-table.  But,  as  was  customary  at 
that  day,  there  were  in  the  back  rooms  tables  for  gen 
tlemen,  covered  with  the  most  solid  dishes  of  meat  and 
game,  while  the  waiters  carried  to  the  ladies  the  best 
of  cakes  and  confections,  with  whatever  else  they  de 
sired.  "With  them  •  remained  the  young  gentlemen, 
who  had  then  even  more  gallantry  than  they  have 
now  in  commending  themselves  to  the  graces  of  the 
ladies.  But  with  the  old,  sedate,  and  unfashionable 
gentlemen  the  back  room  wras  the  charm.  There  stood 
the  tables,  with  ham  and  beef,  and  venison,  turkey, 


188  Personal  Memories. 

and  quails,  with  bottles  of  brandy  and  wine,  and  there 
were  cards  for  those  who  wanted  to  kill  time.  Never 
theless,  in  those  rooms  were  many  a  charming  woman 
and  many  an  intellectual  man.  I  met  at  that  time,  I 
think,  for  the  first  time,  NATHAN  WAKE,  a  gentleman 
from  Georgia,  a  brother  of  Senator  Ware,  and  at  one 
time  a  partner  of  Calhoun.  lie  was  a  man  of  great 
intelligence  and  inquiring  mind.  I  mention  him  here 
because  of  an  interesting  conversation  I  had  with  him, 
abont  this,  on  the  subject  of  a  bridge  over  the  Ohio, 
one  winter  evening,  at  his  room,  on  the  lower  part  of 
Broadway.  He  took  out  some  maps  which  he  had 
drawn  of  a  bridge  to  be  erected.  The  plan  was  to  put 
it  from  the  foot  of  Broadway  to  the  mouth  of  Licking, 
having  one  outlet  to  Covington  and  the  other  to  New 
port.  It  was  to  be  built  on  piers,  with  a  draw.  The 
idea  was  rather  better  than  that  of  the  great  railroad 
bridge,  made  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company, 
which  was  built  on  piers,  but  is  confined  to  the  New 
port  side.  Dr.  Drake,  in  his  "  Pictures  of  Cincinnati," 
published  in  1815,  says:  "Some  enthusiastic  persons 
already  speak  of  a  bridge  across  the  Ohio,  but  the 
period  at  which  this  great  project  can.  be  executed  is 
certainly  remote."  Not  so  very  remote,  for  it  was  little 
more  than  thirty  years  afterward  when  the  beautiful 
suspension  bridge  was  thrown  over  to  Covington. 

In  the  same  winter,  I  think,  I  attended  the  wedding 
of  Miss  Graham  and  Dr.  Ridgely,  at  a  two-story  frame 
house,  on  Third  street,  which  now  looks  like  one  of  the 
antiquities,  but  which  saw,  in  those  days,  some  of  the 
brightest  scenes  of  the  town.  Mr.  Graham,  the  father, 
was  a  paper  manufacturer,  whose  mill  was  at  the  foot 
of  John  street.  His  two  daughters  and  son  were 


Personal  Memories.  189 

among  the  first  people  I  was  acquainted  with.  At 
that  wedding,  I  think,  were  a  number  of  the  young 
ladies  who  then  entered  into  society.  Some  of  them  I 
will  barely  mention.  One  of  them  was  Mary  Long- 
worth,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Nicholas  Longworth, 
and  at  that  time  quite  a  belle,  handsome  and  interest 
ing.  She  soon  after  married  Dr.  Stettinius,  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  in  a  few  years  died.  An 
other  was  Mary  Ann  Burnet,  who  married  Mr.  Yachel 
Worthington,  and  also  soon  died.  Another  lady,  of 
whom  I  saw  little,  but  who  is  sung  by  "  Horace  in 
Cincinnati,"  was  Elizabeth  A.  Lytle.  Her  father, 
General  Lytle,  was  a  noted  man  in  the  early  history 
of  Cincinnati,  and  her  brother,  Robert,  was  a  few 
years  after  elected  to  Congress.  Her  brother,  William, 
whom  I  have  just  before  mentioned,  was  thought  to  be 
one  of  the  most  promising  young  men,  but  died  early. 
Elizabeth  Lytle,  soon  after  I  came  out,  was  married  to 
Charles  Macalester,  a  merchant,  who  removed  to  Phila 
delphia.  Both  were  persons  in  high  estimation,  much 
esteemed  by  those  who  knew  them.  Just  previous  to 
my  arrival  she  had  been  one  of  the  belles  of  Cincin 
nati.  Horace,  in  Cincinnati,  addressed  her  an  ode, 
which  though  not  remarkable  for  poetry,  shows  in 
what  esteem  she  was  held : 

"  If  virgin  purity  of  mind, 

With  nature's  loveliness  combined, 

In  life's  unclouded  morning; 
If  in  her  fair  and  comely  face 
Shine  here,  politeness,  ease,  and  grace 

Her  character  adorning; 

"  If  blest  with  kind  parental  care, 
To  guard  her  steps  from  vice's  snare, 


190  Personal  Memories. 

And  if  religion  summon 
To  taste  her  joys,  a  maid  like  this, 
You  must,  dear  friend,  possess  of  bliss 

A  portion  more  than  common. 

"  Unskill  'd  in  coquetry's  vain  wiles, 
Devoid  of  art  and  Syren-smiles, 

And  free  from  envy's  leaven, 
Still  with  untiring  ardor  run 
The  virtuous  course  you  have  begun, 

Beneath  the  smiles  of  heaven." 

From  the  society  of  ladies  I  must  turn,  in  order  to 
give  a  true  picture  of  the  town  in  its  coarser  amuse 
ments.  Cincinnati  seems  to  have  had  then,  as  well  as 
since,  no  small  taste  for  gambling.  The  police  re 
ports  now  show  that  the  city  is  infested  with  gamblers. 
These  are  of  a  low  and  coarse  sort ;  but  when  I  came 
out,  and  for  several  years,  there  were  many  gentle 
men  of  the  bar,  merchants,  and  others,  who  habitually 
gambled.  Just  before  then  the  marshal  and  his  offi 
cers  had  been  seized  with  a  sudden  spasm  of  virtue, 
and  arrested  nearly  an  hundred  of  lawyers,  merchants, 
bankers,  and  "gentlemen,"  who  (without  regard  to 
their  gentility)  were  indicted  for  gambling — much  to 
their  astonishment,  and  the  astonishment  of  the  town. 
Of  this  proceeding,  "  Horace  "  says  : 

"  Our  citizens  had  long, 
Uhfearing  fortune's  evils, 

With  cards,  and  wine  and  song, 
Enjoyed  their  midnight  revels. 

They  grew  more  free  and  bold, 
Nor  thought  to  be  molested ; 

At  length  a  tale  was  told, 
And  every  man  arrested." 

The  joke  of  the  town  was  that  the  sheriff'  and  the 


Personal  Memories.  191 

prosecuting  attorney  were  among  the  number  arrested. 
"  Horace,"  who  was  a  Quaker,  enjoyed  it,  and  his 
28th  Ode  is  full  of  irony. 

"  Blush,  jurymen,  with  shame, 
For  wantonly  commanding 

Some  hundred  men  of  fame, 
Eenown,  and  lofty  standing, 

To  quit  their  fov'rite  sport, 
Renounce  their  gambling  errors, 

And  stand  before  the  court, 
In  all  its  mighty  terrors." 

Facts  like  these  show — what  my  observation  has 
done — that  the  grosser  vices  have  diminished  in  the 
higher  and  more  educated  classes  of  society,  and  de 
scended  to  the  lower.  It  is  well  known  that  gambling 
was  at  onetime  fashionable  in  England,  and  at  the  time 
I  speak  of  it  was  almost  fashionable  in  Cincinnati. 
There  were  wealthy  gentlemen,  and  the  most  eminent 
members  of  the  bar,  who  were  known  to  be  gamblers. 
After  a  time,  this  was  denounced,  and  the  reputation 
of  gambling  was  a  bad  one.  Then  it  ceased  to  be 
openly  practiced  by  respectable  men.  At  least  it  was 
hid,  and  in  this,  as  in  other  cases,  vice  paid  to  virtue 
the  tribute  of  hypocrisy. 

At  this  time  there  was  in  Cincinnati  a  theater,  on 
Columbia  (since  called  Second)  street,  between  Main 
and  Sycamore.  In  the  winter  of  1825-1826,  I  was  a 
frequent  attendant,  and  found  much  amusement,  with 
out  anything  to  regret.  It  was  undoubtedly — if  I  may 
judge  from  what  I  hear — of  a  better  character  than 
many  of  the  theaters.  There,  I  once  heard  Booth 
the  elder,  in  Richard  the  Third,  in  which  he  was 
celebrated.  But  tragedy  I  never  admired,  and  my  de- 


192  Personal  Memories. 

light  was  in  the  comedy  of  the  then  noted  Aleck 
Drake,  who  with  his  wife — a  superior  woman — was 
famous  in  the  western  country.  I  had  seen  "Old 
Barnes,"  as  he  was  called,  in  Kew  York,  and  many 
years  after,  Burton.  Aleck  Drake,  totally  unlike  either, 
was,  in  the  spirit  of  comedy,  equal  to  them.  He  was 
superior  to  Barnes,  but  not  equal  to  Burton,  in  gentle 
manly  bearing.  In  the  power  to  make  fun,  without 
coarseness,  Drake  wTas  unrivaled.  His  wife  was  su 
perior  to  him— not  so  much  on  the  stage  as  in  mind 
and  character.  I  once  saw  a  little  incident  showing 
what  an  energetic,  spirited  woman  she  wTas. 

A  fire  broke  out  on  Main  street,  and  at  that  time 
there  were  no  fire-engines,  and  the  only  mode  of  car 
rying  water  was  by  fire-buckets,  filled  at  the  river, 
and  handed  from  hand.  So  a  line  was  formed  from 
the  fire  to  the  river.  In  that  line,  among  the  men, 
was  Mrs.  Aleck  Drake,  handing  buckets  vigorously. 
She  was  a  person  of  mind  and  character,  and  always 
a  great  favorite  with  the  public.  I  saw  her  once  in 
the  character  of  "  Meg  Merriles,"  which  she  looked 
and  acted  as  thoroughly  as  Meg  herself  must  have 
done  in  her  wild  freaks  among  the  Gypsies,  and  in  her 
character  as  prophetess  announcing  : 

"And  Bertram's  right  and  Bertram's  might 
Shall  meet  on  Ellengowan  Height." 

Drake  died  while  she  was  yet  in  her  prime,  and  she 
married  Captain  Cutter,  the  poet.  He  was  author  of 
the  "  Song  of  Steam,"  a  noted  piece  in  its  day.  Cut 
ter  was  very  intemperate,  and  great  efforts  were  made 
by  his  friends  to  save  him,  but  in  vain.  The  marriage 
was  an  unhappy  one.  They  were  separated,  and  in  a 
few  years  both  were  dead. 


Personal  Memories.  103 

My  attendance  at  the  Columbia-street  Theater  was 
the  last  of  my  acquaintance  with  the  acted  drama. 
Except  very  rarely  I  have  not  entered  a  theater.  If  I 
may  judge  by  what  others  say,  the  Cincinnati  theater 
has  degenerated  since  those  days.  "  Stars  "  seem  to 
be  quite  numerous,  but  the  character  of  the  theater 
itself  declined.  First  comes  melo-drama;  then  the 
spectacle,  which,  under  the  name  of  a  play,  is  often 
more  than  half  a  menagerie,  by  introducing  animals 
on  the  stage.  Recently  the  opera  has  been  intro 
duced,  which  is,  no  doubt,  a  great  improvement  on 
the  age  of  melo-drama  and  menagerie;  yet  it  does  not 
seem,  from  newspaper  accounts,  that  the  theater  has 
risen  to  any  great  dignity,  either  in  character  or  rep 
resentation.  When  we  reflect  how  universal  were 
theatrical  entertainments  in  Rome,  and  are  now  in 
France,  we  must  admit  that  there  is  something  in 
them  well  adapted  to  the  taste  and  amusement  of 
mankind;  but  the  question  remains  whether  this 
kind  of  amusement  is  not  abused  to  evil  consequence, 
and  whether  we  can  imagine  the  early  Christians  to 
have  frequented  theaters.  Garrick  and  Mrs.  Siddons 
were,  no  doubt,  well  worth  anybody's  while  to  see ; 
but  we  suspect  neither  Garrick  nor  Mrs.  Siddons  were 
seen  acting  in  such  theaters  and  accompanied  with 
such  circumstances  as  we  have  now. 

In  the  summer  of  1826,  while  boarding  on  Broad 
way,  I  had  a  severe  bilious  fever.  This  fact  reminds 
me  of  the  change  which  has  come  in  the  character  and 
fatality  of  diseases  in  Cincinnati.  From  1825  to  1828 
the  bilious  fever  and  its  kindred  diseases  were  preva 
lent,  and,  indeed,  alarming.  The  whole  character  of 
disease  was  different  from  what  it  is  now.  The  low 


194  Personal  Memoirs. 


types  of  fever  which  we  see  did  not  exist  at  all,  except 
as  the  sequel  of  inflammatory  disorders.  When  a 
bilious  or  other  active  fever  had  exhausted  its  power, 
the  patient  immediately  began  to  sink,  and  he  could 
be  kept  up  only  by  brandy  and  other  stimulants. 
These  active,  inflammatory  fevers  we  seldom  see  now, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  what  is  called  the  "  typhoid 
fever."  The  introduction  of  " typhoid"  as  a  general 
disease  was  since  the  introduction  of  cholera  in  1832. 
Many  physicians  thought  that,  from  some  unknown 
cause,  the  cholera,  or  that  which  produced  cholera, 
had  changed  the  character  of  diseases.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  it  is  certain  that  Cincinnati,  in  1825,  1826,  and 
1827,  was  the  victim  of  bilious  fever,  almost  to  the  ex 
tent  of  an  epidemic.  Within  my  own  knowledge, 
many  of  the  best  known  citizens  had  the  fever,  and  some 
died.  Among  those  who  died  was  a  German  engineer, 
who  boarded  at  the  Broadway  Hotel,  and  was  much 
distinguished  in  his  line.  Another  was  my  cousin, 
Mrs.  Dr.  Drake.  A  large  part  of  the  fever  cases  oc 
curred  in  the  south-east  part  of  the  town,  between 
Third  street  and  the  river.  The  cause  seemed  to  me 
very  evident :  all  the  bottom  part  in  that  quarter  had 
been  often  overflowed,  and  in  early  days  had  been  little 
else  than  a  marsh  ;  many  of  the  lots  had  been  filled  and 
built  upon  without  regard  to  their  former  condition. 
I  think  there  must  have  been  malarial  poison  in  this 
part  of  the  city  for  several  years.  However,  the  bil 
ious  fever  pervaded  the  whole  town,  chiefly  in  the 
bottoms*  Being  well  acquainted  with  physicians  and 
familiar  with  statistics,  I  am  compelled  to  believe 
there  has  been  a  great  change  in  the  character  of  dis 
eases.  The  diseases  now  are  of  a  lower  type.  It  is 


Personal  Memories.  195 


well  known  that  at  the  close  of  last  century  and  the 
beginning  of  this,  bleeding  was  a  common  resort  and 
remedy  by  the  ablest  physicians.  It  is  equally  well 
known  that  it  is  not  so  now.  Somebody  will  say  that 
is  owing  to  a  change  in  medical  theories.  In  part,  no 
doubt,  but  not  altogether  so.  It  is  to  be  presumed 
that  most  physicians  are  honest  in  their  attempts  to 
heal  the  patient,  and  that  is  the  interest  of  the  profes 
sion.  When,  eighty  years  since,  the  most  eminent 
physicians  resorted  to  bleeding  as  an  efficient  remedy, 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  thought  it  a  good  rem 
edy  for  the  inflammatory  diseases  then  prevalent. 
When,  since  the  introduction  of  the  cholera  (1832- 
1850),  they  seldom  bleed,  but  resort  to  tonic,  as  well 
as  external  remedies,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they 
do  it  with  an  equally  honest  conviction  that  this  is  the 
most  successful.  In  other  words,  the  change  is  due 
rather  to  the  results  of  practical  observation  at  the 
bedside  than  to  merely  medical  theories.  There  is, 
and  always  will  be,  two  schools  of  medical  philosophy 
in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  diseases.  One  affirms  it 
best  to  kill  it  by  destroying  its  germ  by  the  anti-phlo 
gistic  system.  The  other  declares  it  best  to  strengthen 
the  constitution  to  meet  and  conquer  it.  My  mother, 
who  was  very  intelligent,  and  herself  had  the  yellow 
fever  in  1794,  was  of  the  firm  opinion  that  it  was  bet 
ter  to  strengthen  the  system  by  tonics  than  to  weaken 
it  by  any  anti-phlogistics.  Such  is  my  opinion,  and  it 
seems  to  be  the  popular  opinion  of  physicians  of  the 
present  day. 

Here  we  come  to  another  change,  or  reported 
change  in  the  character  of  diseases.  This  is  the  much 
greater  number  of  (at  least  reported)  nervous  and 


106  Personal  Memories. 

heart  diseases.  That  in  name  and  appearance  these 
have  largely  increased,  is  beyond  question.  They  are 
attributed  by  nearly  all  writers  on  medical  and  social 
science  to  changes  in  society.  It  is  said  that  society 
is  more  active,  more  excited,  more  luxurious,  and  to 
use  the  common  phase,  more  high-strung,  and,  there 
fore,  the  brain  is  overworked,  and  the  nerves  over- 
stimulated.  There  is,  no  doubt,  some  truth  in  this 
theory,  but  it  is  greatly  exaggerated.  It  is  question 
able  whether,  in  fact,  heart  diseases  have  greatly  in 
creased.  There  are  more  reported,  but  are  there  more 
in  fact?  A  century  ago  heart  diseases  were  not  un 
derstood  and  defined  accurately.  Deaths  from  this 
cause  were  called  "sudden  deaths,"  or,  "apoplexy." 
or  some  accident.  Now  they  are  understood  and  prop 
erly  named  like  other  diseases.  So  an  "  overworked 
brain "  is  an  exaggerated  cause  of  disease.  I  have 
seen  hundreds,  I  may  say  thousands  of  students  and 
professional  men,  and  never  met  with  an  overworked 
brain  yet.  That  such  a  thing  exists,  I  have  no  doubt, 
but  it  is  much  more  rare  than  is  commonly  supposed. 
Indolence,  to  the  extent  of  a  neglected  mind  and  body, 
is  a  much  more  common  disease  than  an  overworked 
brain.  The  celebrated  Dr.  CADOGAN  (an  English  phy 
sician),  came  much  nearer  the  causes  of  gout,  dyspep 
sia,  and  chronic  diseases  than  they  do  now-a-days.  He 
said  that  the  causes  of  them  are  intemperance,  indo 
lence,  and  vexation.  By  vexation,  he  meant,  I  sup 
pose,  what  I  mean  by  "  worry,"  a  constant  bother  and 
anxiety  about  a  thousand  things,  upon  which  there 
ought  not  to  be  any  anxiety,  but  about  which  thou 
sands  of  minds  are  constantly  vexed.  Here  we  come 
to  what  I  believe  to  be  the  real  cause  of  increased  ner- 


Personal  Memories.  197 

vous  and  heart  diseases.  There  have  been  two  great 
causes  actively  at  work  within  a  i'ew  years  to  stimu 
late  and  excite  the  minds  of  intelligent  people.  The 
first  is  the  immensely  increased  and  diffused  "  news,'' 
or  events,  or  gossip  of  the  world  instantly  made 
known  and  made  almost  ubiquitous  round  the  earth. 
It  is  impossible  that  this  should  not  excite  some  minds 
beyond  the  point  of  a  healthy  action.  We  need 
not  analyze  this  effect  beyond  the  very  evident 
increase  of  certain  classes  of  crimes,  by  the  constant 
repetition  of  similar  events  continually  committed. 
Then  the  vastly  increased  power  of  locomotion  has 
caused  innumerable  casualties,  and  often  crimes,  that 
were  unknown  before.  High  living,  constant  excite 
ment,  perpetual  going  and  coming  are  the  real  causes 
of  the  nervous  diseases,  insanities,  and  suicides  which 
are  prevalent  at  this  day. 

A  year  or  two  after  the  time  I  have  referred  to  there 
occurred  a  social  event,  which  was,  at  once,  strange 
and  amusing.  The  story,  as  it  came  to  me,  and  was 
current  in  town,  and,  no  doubt,  in  the  main  correct, 
was  this.  GENERAL  LYTLE,  one  of  the  oldest  and  best 
known  citizens,  was  coming  doAvn  the  Ohio  in  a  steam 
boat,  when  a  passenger,  a  civil  and  intelligent  person, 
introduced  himself  to  Lytle  as  General  Ross,  princi 
pal  chief  of  the  Cherokees.  Now,  it  was  known  that 
Ross  was  chief  of  the  Cherokees,  and  that  he  was  an 
educated  person,  having  been  at  the  school  in  Corn 
wall,  Connecticut,  when  I  was  studying  law  at  the 
neighboring  town  of  Litchfield.  Ross  showed  Gen 
eral  Lytle  letters  from  several  persons  of  distinction, 
and  had  one,  I  believe,  to  Lytle  himself.  lie,  there 
fore,  took  the  Cherokee  chief  to  be  what  he  repre- 


198  Personal  Memories. 

sented  himself,  treated  liirn  civilly,  and  invited  him  to 
his  home.  I  did  not  see  the  chief,  but  heard  for  two 
or  three  days  of  his  driving  around  the  city  and  being 
treated  as  a  distinguished  person.  One  evening  a 
great  party  was  given  at  Judge  Este's,  on  Ninth  street 
near  Main.  Whether  the  party  was  given  to  General 
Ross,  I  do  not  know;  but,  he  was  invited  and  ex 
pected.  I  was  invited,  but  did  not  go.  Next  morn 
ing  I  met  two  or  three  gentlemen,  on  the  street,  who 
were  talking  and  laughing  over  a  great  joke.  It 
turned  out  that  General  Ross  was  not  at  the  party, 
and  was  only  a  smart,  but  common  mulatto.  I  was 
boarding  with  a  gentleman  who  had  a  witty  and  im 
pudent  mulatto  servant,  and  felt  sure  that  he  knew 
something  about  it.  So  I  said  to  him  :  "  Charley,  I 
hear  General  Ross  was  not  at  Judge  Este's  party." 
Giggling  from  ear  to  ear,  he  said,  "No,  sir;  he  was 
tired."  "Tired!  Where  did  he  go?"  "He— he— he! 
He  said  he  was  tired  of  the  white  folks;  and  went  to 
a  nigger  ball !"  Such  was  the  end  of  polite  attentions 
to  General  Ross,  of  the  Cherokees.  Such  impositions 
often  happen  when  people  are  anxious  to  notice  dis 
tinguished  strangers.  In  this  case  the  imposition  was 
harmless  and  amusing,  but  I  saw  one  that  made  no 
little  shame  and  mortification.  When  I  graduated  at 
Princeton,  our  class,  as  was  customary,  gave  a  com 
mencement  ball.  At  that  ball  was  present,  by  invita 
tion,  the  then  noted  Baron  Hoffman.  lie  drove  up  in 
a  fine  carriage  and  four  horses,  making  all  the  show 
he  could.  It  was  about  the  last  of  his  appearance  as 
a  distinguished  stranger  on  the  American  boards.  He 
had  come  out  from  German}7  as  Baron  Hoffman,  re 
lated  to  some  of  the  most  distinguished  of  German 


Personal  Memories.  199 

nobilit}7,  and  brought  the  most  ample  credentials — 
letters  from  well-known  persons — receipts  and  certiii- 
cates  of  business,  and,  withal,  was  a  polite,  intelligent 
man.  His  bearing  was  said  to  be  impressive,  and,  as 
a  titled  gentleman  of  high  standing,  made  favorable 
impression  on  the  ladies.  He  began  rather  modestly, 
but  made  his  way  in  society ;  Avas  well  received;  man 
aged  to  borrow  a  good  deal  of  money,  and  moved  in 
the  very  best  societ}7,  in  days  when  there  was  a  real 
aristocracy.  He  was  engaged  to  marry,  it  was  confi 
dently  said,  Miss  L.,  one  of  the  very  elite  of  New 
York.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  made  his  ap 
pearance  at  our  ball,  and  in  a  few  days  we  heard  the 
finale  of  this  well-played  farce — very  near  a  tragedy. 
There  were  no  swift  steamers  and  telegraph  in  those 
days,  but,  at  length,  letters  were  received  from  Ger 
many  showing  that  this  fellow  was  the  valet  of  the  real 
Baron  Iloffm  in,  and  had  stolen  letters  and  money 
from  his  master. 

Then  cnme  a  flood  of  writs  and  suits  from  his  de 
luded  creditors,  and,  under  the  barbarous  laws  of  im 
prisonment  for  debt,  this  pseudo  Baron  Hoffman  was 
thrown  into  jail.  True  to  his  character,  he  deter- 
mined-that  the  end  of  the  [day  should  be  as  complete 
as  the  beginning.  One  morning  he  was  found  nearly 
faint,  with  his  uncovered  arm  dripping  blood,  with  a 
razor  near..  He  was  sadly  announcing  his  determina 
tion  to  leave  this  cruel  world,  when  it  was  discovered 
that  he  had  opened  a  vein,  but  taken  care  not  to  cut 
nn  artery.  He  was  bound  up,  and  his  creditors  find 
ing  nothing  but  bones  to  pick,  soon  dismissed  him; 
and  Baron  Hoffman  disappeared  from  the  American 
stage.  This  kind  of  imposition  is  common,  even  now, 


200  Personal  Memories. 

and  will   be,  so   long  as  many  people  prefer  empty 
titles  to  good  character. 

In  the  summer  of  1826,  Mr.  Benjamin  Drake  and 
myself  undertook  to  make  a  little  book,  descriptive  of 
Cincinnati,  as  an  inducement  to  immigration.  That 
turned  out  to  be  "  Cincinnati  in  1826."  In  order  to 
do  this  cheaply  and  coircctly,  \ve  took  the  cen 
sus  and  statistics  of  the  city  ourselves.  It  was  a  la 
borious  task  ;  but  we  were  young,  and  the  weather 
pleasant.  We  divided  the  work  by  Main  street,  I  tak 
ing  the  east  side.  At  that  time,  there  were  very  few 
inhabitants  beyond  llace  street,  so  that  the  division 
was  nearly  equal.  Taking  the  census  and  taking  sta 
tistics  is  and  must  ever  be  instructive  and  amusing. 
Such  work  takes  you  into  the  very  homes  of  the  peo 
ple,  and  into  the  very  heart  of  the  work-shops.  One 
thing  struck  me  with  surprise,  to  which  the  present 
state  of  society  presents  an  unhappy  contrast.  I  went 
into  hundreds  of  houses,  at  all  hours  of  the  da}7,  often 
at  meal  times,  and  saw  all  conditions  of  people.  In 
all  this  visitation  into  the  recesses  of  society,  I  never 
met  a  single  pauper  family,  nor  one  really  impover 
ished.  The  great  body  of  people  were  mechanics, 
with  plenty  to  do,  generally  owning  their  own  houses, 
and,  in  fact,  a  well-to-do  people.  It  is  such  a  popula 
tion  which  makes  the  worth  and  strength  of  the  city, 
when  it  grows  to  great  size,  filled  with  all  sorts  of 
people.  There  will  be  found  many  improvements, 
much  wealth  and  show  ;  but  beside  all  the  art  and 
elegance,  stands  gaunt  poverty,  events  which  make 
humanity  shudder,  and  distress  which  no  human 
power  can  relieve.  In  the  midst  of  it  aJJ^Jit^is  only 
the  great  middle  class,  whTcTrpmserveTthe  social  s~ys- 


Personal  Memories.  201 

tern  from  decay  and  ruin.  Cincinnati  in  1826,  was 
composed  almost  wholly  of  this  class,  and  it  was 
pleasant  to  see  thorn,  in  their  plain  but  independent 
houses,  enjoying  the  fruit  of  their  labor.  The  contrast 
between  then  and  now  is  in  every  aspect  great.  Cin 
cinnati  in  1826  had  16^00  people.  Cincinnati  in  1870, 
UmL^iistJOO ^QQO- more.  Cincinnati  in  1826  had  nei 
ther  gaslights,  nor  public  waterworks,  nor  public 
schools  (although  there  were  schools),  for,  it  was  not 
until  1824,  that  there  was  a  state  law  authorizing  tax 
ation  for  schools,  and,  it  was  not  until  1830,  that  the 
law  was  carried  into  effect  in  Cincinnati.  The  water 
works  had  been  previously  established  by  Col.  Samuel 
Davis,  afterward  mayor,  but  were  held  by  a  private 
company,  who,  several  years  after,  sold  them  to  the 
city.  None  of  the  great  institutions  for  charity,  which 
are  now  the  pride,  as  well  as  the  beneficence  of  the 
city,  were  then  erected,  except  the  Cincinnati  Com 
mercial  Hospital,  which  was  founded  by  Dr.  Drake. 
It  is  true  the  town  was  then  small,  but  the  condition 
of  the  people  was  widely  different.  In  proportion  to 
the  population,  there  was  not  one  in  need  of  these 
charities  where  there  are  ten  to-day.  When  I  look 
back  upon  the  Cincinnati  of  1826,  and  then  upon  Cin 
cinnati  in  1876,  I  find  it  difficult  to  say  that  being 
big,  rich,  and  showy,  has  made  society  better  or  hap 
pier. 


202  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Presidency — Candidates  in  1824 — John  Quincy 
Adams — Clay's  Vote  for  Adams — Speech  at  Mack's 
Tavern — Henry  Clay  and  his  Character. 

IN  1828,  there  were  six  candidates  for  the  presi 
dency  in  the  canvass,  and  four  in  the  election.  In  the 
summer  of  this  year  Adams,  Clinton,  Clay,  Jackson, 
Calhoun,  and  Crawford  were  all  canvassed;  but,  in  the 
end,  Clinton  and  Calhoun  were  dropped  out.  There 
were  then  no  great  or  interesting  political  issues. 
The  administration  of  Mr.  Monroe  had  been  one  of 
perfect  calm,  except  some  casual  controversies  about 
contracts  and  offices,  which  interested  the  nation 
scarcely  at  all.  But  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Monroe  was 
like  a  powder  magazine,  which  only  needed  a  spark 
of  tire  to  make  an  explosion  and  a  conflagration.  It 
was  made  up,  as  was  said  of  an  English  ministry,  of 
"all  the  talents;"  and,  of  course,  all  the  talents  must 
be  ambitious.  There  were  plans,  schemes,  and  coun 
ter-schemes  which  were  never  fully  known  until 
twenty  years  afterward. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  William  II.  Crawford,  John 
C.  Calhoun,  and  John  M'Lean  were  all  members  of 
Monroe's  cabinet,  and  were  all  afterward  proposed  for 
the  presidency.  Henry  Clay  had  just  been  the  dis 
tinguished  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives; 
De  Witt  Clinton  was  mounted  on  the  'Erie  canal,  and 
had  just  triumphed  over  his  political  enemies;  An- 


Per  soiled  Memoirs.  203 

drew  Jackson  was  at  the  Hermitage,  with  his  laurels, 
fresh,  green,  and  glorious,  from  the  battlefield  of  New 
Orleans — as  Counselor  Sampson  called  it,  "that  death 
bed  of  British  glory."  In  fine,  there  was  then  upon 
the  political  stage  a  galaxy  of  talent,  genius,  and 
brilliancy  which,  I  think,  may  be  fairly  said,  hud  not 
been  exceeded  in  a  previous  period,  and  has  not^been 
equaled  since.  The  canvass  for  the  presidency  was 
conducted,  not  upon  any  general  principles,  or  in 
reference  to  any  special  policy,  but  with  reference  to 
individuals  and  to  their  localities.  Mr.  Adams  was  a 
favorite  in  New  England,  Mr.  Clay  in  the  West,  Cal- 
houn  and  Crawford  divided  the  South,  while  Jackson 
had  an  under-current  of  popularity,  which  pervaded 
all  parts  of  the  country,  and  was  produced  by  his 
military  exploits,  and  not  a  little  by  the  boldness  of 
his  character  and  the  audacity  of  his  conduct.  De 
Witt  Clinton  was  dropped,  and  confined  his  operations 
to  New  York.  Calhoun,  living  near  Crawford,  was 
also  dropped;  and  John  M'Lean  was  not  proposed 
until  many  years  after.  The  others,  Adams,  Clay, 
Crawford,  and  Jackson  were  voted  for.  Neither  of 
the  candidates  had  a  majority,  and  the  election  was 
made  by  the  house  of  representatives. 

Governor  Wolcott  said :  "  We  do  n't  need  to  have 
brilliant  talents.  There  is  old  Sitgreaves,  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  will  make  as  good  a  president  as  anybody. 
You  want  a  man  of  business  and  integrity  to  take 
care  of  the  business  of  the  government."  Sitgreaves 
was  a  member  of  congress  from  Eastern  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  interested  in  statistics.*  Whether  Wol- 

*See  Chapter  IX. 


204  Personal  Memories. 

cott's  theory  was  right  or  not,  the  American  people 
have  practically  acted  upon  it.  Such  men  as  Mon 
roe,  Van  Buren,  Polk,  Taylor,  Pierce,  Buchanan,  and 
Grant  have  been  elected,  while  Clinton,  Clay,  "Web 
ster,  and  Calhoun  could  not  be. 

.  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  who  was  elected  by  the  house, 
in  1825,  had  much  claim  to  be  considered  a  man  of 
genius  and  learning.  Except  Jefferson,  he  was  the 
only  one  of  all  our  presidents  who  was  really  a  liter 
ary  man.  He  was  once  a  professor  of  belles-lettres  in 
Harvard  College,  and  his  public  addresses  are  both 
able  and  ornate.  lie  occasionaly  wrote  poetry,  al 
though  that  was  certainly  not  his  forte.  His  lines  to 
"  A  Bereaved  Mother  "  are  really  good  : 

"  Sure,  in  the  mansions  of  the  blest, 
When  infant  innocence  ascends, 
Some  angel,  brighter  than  the  rest, 
The  spotless  spirit's  flight  attends. 

"Then  dry  henceforth  the  bitter  tear; 
Their  part  and  thine  inverted  see : 
Thou  wert  their  guardian  angel  here, 
They  guardian  angels  now  to  thee." 

Mr.  Adams,  like  his  father,  was  a  Federalist,  but  in 
consequence  of  their  revolutionary  companionship, 
Jefferson  favored  the  Adamses,  and  put  John  Quincy 
in  the  way  of  political  promotion.  He  began  in  the 
diplomatic  service  and  \vas  abroad  many  years,  and 
at  one  time  Minister  to  Prussia.  At  the  time  of  the 
election  in  1824,  he  was,  undoubtedly,  the  best  diplo 
matist,  the  best  acquainted  with  our  foreign  affairs, 
and  most  experienced  statesman  in  the  country.  He 
had  been,  from  boyhood  up,  drilled  in  public  affairs. 
He  had  an  educated  mind,  and  was  thoroughly  quali- 


Personal  Memories.  205 


fieri  for  public  business.  After  his  term  in  the  presi 
dency  expired,  lie  made  the  novel  experiment  of  a  re 
tired  president  serving  in  the  house  of  representatives, 
and  it  was  the  most  successful,  although  not  the  most 
practical  part  of  his  life.  He  was  called  by  the  notorious 
Tom  Marshall,  the  "  Old  Man  Eloquent,"  and  he  used 
liig  eloquence  with  a  power  which  few  could  resist. 
lie  took  part  in  the  earliest  and  greatest  discussions 
upon  the  right  of  petition  and  human  freedom.  In 
those  days,  the  slave  power  was  largely  predominant. 
It  seems  wonderful  at  this  day,  when  the  whole  tone 
and  temper  of  the  nation  'are  different,  that  such  an 
abject  spirit  should  have  been  exhibited  by  a  large 
part  of  the  Northern  people,  aptly  and  truly  called 
Dough-faces.  But  so  it  was,  and  not  till  the  discus 
sions  on  the  right  of  petition  had  reached  the  con 
science,  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  the  North,  was  there 
any  recovery  from  the  abject  submission,  which  the  im 
perious  slave  power  demanded  of  the  Northern  repre 
sentatives.  Mr.  Adams'  speeches  from  1833  to  1842, 
on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  right  of  petition,  and 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  were  the  best,  the  ablest,  and 
the  most  effective  made  in  the  country.  For  his  course 
in  the  anti-slavery  movement,  for  his  clear  views  of 
the  constitution,  and  his  defense  of  human  freedom, 
he  will  be  remembered  in  after  ages.  He  was  never 
popular  with  politicians,  nor  even  regarded  as  a  party 
leader.  No  man  ever  questioned  his  integrity.  No 
ma  a  ever  doubted  his  patriotism.  Of  him,  with  more 
truth  than  of  Chatham,  it  might  be  said  :  "  The  sec 
retary  stood  alone.  Modern  degeneracy  had  not 
reached  him."  Mr.  Adams  knew  that  he  stood  alone, 
and  among  his  methods  of  self-defense  and  asserting 


206  Personal  Memories. 

truth  was  his  "Diary,"  which  has  become  memorable 
in  the  history  of  the  country.  With  it,  he  demolished 
Jonathan  Russell,  a  colleague  commissioner  in  mak 
ing  the  Treaty  of  Ghent.  Russell,  as  well  as  some 
other  people,  was  willing  to  insinuate  that  Mr.  Adams 
wished  to  give  up  the  exclusive  rights  to  the  Mis 
sissippi.  Mr.  Adams,  by  the  use  of  his  Diary,  showed 
such  complete  detail  of  dates  aud  circumstances,  as 
put  an  end  to  that  charge.  There  was  another  little 
historical  incident  worth  remembering,  though  history 
will  not  record  it.  MR.  CLAY  was  also  a  commissioner 
at  Ghent,  and  when  in  the  canvas  of  1824,  the  news 
papers  intimated  that  Adams  was  inclined  to  give  up 
the  exclusive  right  to  the  Mississippi,  Clay  came  out 
with  a  card,  saying,  he  had  something  to  say  on  that 
subject  in  a  future  time.  Mr.  Adams  wrote  a  card  of 
five  lines,  saying,  "  now  is  the  day,  and  I  defy  the  test 
of  time,  of  talent,  and  of  human  scrutiny."  It  is 
enough  to  say,  that  the  future  time  never  came,  when 
Mr.  Clay  was  willing  to  utter  another  word  on  the 
subject.  The  fate  of  Jonathan  Russell  was  not  one 
he  wished  to  share.  Mr.  Adams  died  in  the  hall  of 
the  house  of  representatives,  the  theater  of  his  last  and 
greatest  glory.  Falling  into  the  arms  of  a  friend  his 
last  words  were:  "This  is  the  last  of  earth!"  1 
know  not  \A  hether  any  monument  was  erected  to  him  ; 
but  he  needed  it  not.  For,  whether  the  ages  to  come 
shall  hear  of  him  or  not,  he  could  have  said  with  Hor 
ace — 

"  Exegi  monumentum  sere  perrennius." 

In  the  election  of  1824,  although  I  did  not  vote,  my 
sympathies  were  all  with  Adams.  Perhaps  they 
would  not  have  been  had  De  Witt  Clinton  continued 


Personal  Memories.  207 

a  candidate;  for,  in  spite  of  Governor  Wolcott's 
opinion,  I  did  admire  genius  and  learning,  and  DC 
"Witt  Clinton  was  undoubtedly  among  the  most  brill 
iant  of  our  public  men.  When  the  election  of  No 
vember,  1824,  came  on,  I  had  no  vote  ;  but,  on  arriv 
ing  at  Cincinnati,  in  the  summer  of  1825,  found  my 
friends  and  the  public  generally  excited  over  the  state 
of  public  affairs.  The  election  which  had  just  taken 
place  was  the  second  one  in  which  the  house  of  rep 
resentatives  had  been  called  upon  to  take  part.  The 
first  one  was  the  celebrated  case  of  Burr  and  Jefferson, 
which  caused  so  much  danger  and  controversy,  that 
an  amendment  to  the  constitution  was  made,  being 
the  twelfth  of  the  additional  articles.  In  the  original 
constitution  it  was  provided  that  the  electors  should 
vote  for  two  persons,  and  the  one  having  the  highest 
number  of  votes  should  be  president,  and  the  person 
having  the  next  highest  be  vice-president;  and,  if  a 
tie,  the  house  should  choose  the  president.  In  this 
no  allowance  was  made  as  to  whom  the  people  may 
have  intended  for  president  and  vice-president.  This 
made  no  difference  in  the  election  of  Washington  or 
John  Adams,  both  of  whom  had  the  highest  vote  at 
the  time  of  their  respective  elections.  In  the  summer 
of  1800,  there  would  have  been  difficulty  if  the  Federal 
ticket  had  been  elected,  for  it  was  arranged  that  CHARLES 
COLESWORTH  PiNKNEY  (of  S.  C.)  should  receive  one 
vote  less  than  Mr.  Adams,  and  he  did.  But  the  Re 
publican  ticket  had  the  majority  of  electors,  and  on 
that  Jefferson  and  Burr  had  the  same  number  of  votes. 
Jefferson,  however,  was  intended,  and  nobody  dreamed 
that  Burr  would  be  seriously  set  up  as  president.  The 
Federalists  hated  Jefferson,  and  took  the  opportunity 


208  Personal  Memories. 

of  voting  in  the  house  of  representatives  for  Burr. 
There  the  vote  is  by  states.  The  Federalists  held 
states  enough,  with  two  or  three  equally  divided,  to 
prevent  the  election  of  Jefferson.  The  balloting  went 
on  for  several  days,  amidst  an  intense  excitement.  At 
length  Mr.  BAYARD,  of  Delaware,  with  half  a  dozen 
others,  holding  the  votes  of  two  states,  determined 
to  make  an  election,  but  determined  also  to  make 
an  "  arrangement "  with  Mr.  Jefferson  for  re 
taining  some  friends  in  office,  which  was  done, 
and  the  election  was  made.  This  transaction  caused 
the  almost  unanimous  adoption  of  the  twelfth  addi 
tional  article  to  the  constitution,  which  provides  that 
the  electors  shall  specify  the  president  and  vice-presi 
dent.  Under  this  article  the  election  of  1825  was 
made.  Four  candidates  had  been  voted  for  :  Jackson 
receiving  99  electoral  votes;  Adams,  84 ;  Crawford, 
41,  and  Clay,  37.  Jackson  had  a  plurality  a  little  over 
one-third  of  the  whole  number ;  but  it  was  assumed 
in  the  popular  mind  that,  because  he  had  a  plurality, 
he  ought  to  be  elected.  Such  was  not  the  fact.  Mr. 
Adams  was  elected  by  the  votes  of  thirteen  states  ; 
ten  having  voted  in  whole  or  in  part  for  Mr.  Adams, 
and  three  (Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  Missouri)  which  had 
voted  for  Mr.  Clay.  Mr.  Clay's  friends  had  consulted 
together,  and  voted  in  a  body  for  Mr.  Adams.  This 
surprised  the  enthusiastic  friends  of  Jackson,  and  dis 
pleased  those  of  Crawford.  The  result  was  that  there 
was  a  combination  of  the  friends  of  Jackson  and 
Crawford  against  Adams  and  Clay.  The  jealousy, 
which  has  ever  existed  in  the  South  against  the 
Northern  men,  broke  out  with  new7  force.  Adams  was 
assailed  with  a  malignity  which  is  scarcely  equaled  in 


Personal  Memories.  209 


the  fierce  conflicts  of  this  day.  John  Randolph,  of 
Virginia,  said  that  John  Quincy  Adams  was  only 
serving  out  his  father's  time.  Mr.  Adams,  however, 
was  the  last  man  to  put  himself  out  for  the  scold 
ing  of  Thersites  or  the  gossip  of  Mrs.  Grundy.  All 
that  can  be  remembered  now  of  Randolph,  so  much 
talked  about  in  his  day,  is  the  u  REMORSE  "  written  on 
his  card  when  death  was  near.  Who  would  live  a 
brilliant  wit  or  a  proud  aristocrat,  only  to  feel  at  last 
"  remorse  ?" 

In  the  formation  of  his  cabinet,  Mr.  Adams  made 
MR.  CLAY  secretary  of  state.  Then  the  storm  burst 
forth,  and  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other, 
"bargain,  intrigue,  and  management,"  was  shouted 
forth.  It  was  declared  that  because  Clay  and  his 
friends  voted  for  Adams  in  the  house,  and  Mr.  Adams 
made  Clay  secretary  of  state,  that  therefore  there  was 
a  bargain  between  them.  It  happened,  however,  that 
Clay  had  declared  to  several  gentlemen  before  the 
election,  that  if  the  election  in  the  house  should  be 
between  Adams  and  Jackson,  that  he  should  vote  for 
Adams,  on  the  ground  of  his  superior  civil  qualifica 
tions.  He  said  this  to  my  friend  Dr.  Drake,  who,  as 
others  did,  published  that  fact.  This  ought  to  have 
satisfied  anybody;  but  politicians,  like  wolves  of  the 
prairie,  never  leave  a  scent  until  they  destroy  their 
victim.  They  did  not  destroy  Mr.  Clay,  but  they 
created  that  intense  party  spirit  which  has  divided 
the  country  ever  since.  Mr.  Clay  has  long  since  been 
acquitted  of  anything  dishonorable  in  his  vote  for  Mr. 
Adams,  but  never  was  a  noble  bird  more  hawked  at 
by  mousing  owls,  or  beset  with  buzzing  insects,  than 
was  this  greatest  of  political  warriors.  Fortunately 


210  Personal  Memories. 

he  was  made  by  nature  with  all  the  courage,  boldness, 
and  strength,  which  was  necessary  for  a  conflict  with 
the  combined  array  of  ambitious  rivals,  political  hyenas, 
and  ignorant  mobs,  which  were  arrayed  to  overthrow 
his  power  and  blacken  his  name.  Nevertheless,  brave 
and  strong  as  he  was,  it  took  all  his  strength,  courage, 
and  eloquence  to  meet  his  assailants  successfully,  even 
in  the  West.  Here  Jacksonism  was  strong,  and  took 
a  popular  hold  on  many  people  not  inclined  to  it,  by 
the  plausible  argument  that  Jackson  having  received 
the  most  votes  ought,  therefore,  to  have  been  elected 
by  the  house.  In  Cincinnati,  in  1825,  the  popular 
current  was  for  Jackson,  the  next  strongest  was  for 
Adams,  and  the  last  Clay.  At  the  time  I  came  out 
there  were  not  more  than  two  hundred  and  eighty 
original  Clay  men  in  Cincinnati,  four  times  as  many 
for  Adams,  and.  much  more  than  both  for  Jackson. 
The  Adams  and  Clay  men,  however,  fused  together 
after  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Clay  to  the  cabinet. 
The  combined  forces  made  a  formidable  party,  which 
in  1833-1834  made  the  basis  of  the  great  "Whig 
party  of  the  next  twenty  years.  Mr.  Clay  found  it 
necessary  to  defend  himself  against  the  charge  of 
"  bargain,  intrigue,  and  management."  One  of  his 
defenses  was  a  speech  made  at  Cincinnati,  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1825.  A  large  number  of  the  gentlemen  of 
Cincinnati,  originally  friends  of  either  Adams  or  Clay, 
gave  him  a  public  dinner  at  the  Cincinnati  Hotel,  then 
kept  by  Mack,  at.  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Front 
street.  There  were  about  two  hundred  present,  and 
they  were  the  elite  of  the  city.  I  was  fairly  startled 
by  the  speech,  which  was  the  most  eloquent  one  I  ever 
heard,  in  fiery  utterance  and  energetic  action.  It  was 


Personal  Memories.  211 

utterly  unlike  that  of  Cor-win  or  Webster,  not  supe 
rior,  but  unlike.  Mr.  Clay  was  not  like  Adams  or 
Webster,  able  to  write  a  polished  or  eloquent  argu 
ment,  nor  lik^Ggj^j11-  a^^e  to  ade*T1  illfl  ^p******  *""%. 
wit  and  humor;  but  he  had  more  real  soul  than  either. 
The  power  of  personal  magnet  ism,  through  eloquence, 
was  greater  than  in  any  of  his  great  rivals.  His  speech 
at  the  Cincinnati  Hotel  was  not  wholly  on  politics,  but 
when  he  came  to  defend  his  vote  in  the  house  for 
Adams  he  tired  up,  his  tall  person  seemed  taller,  his 
head  and  expression  assumed  a  lofty  bearing,  with 
his  foot  advanced,  and  his  arm  raised,  and  his  eye 
flashing,  he  seemed  to  defy,  in  his  mere  presence, 
the  whole  pack  of  hounds,  who,  under  the  name 
of  Jackson,  had  yelped  at  his  heels,  and  snarled  at 
his  fame.  lie  said  that  he  was  compelled  to  choose 
between  two  distinguished  citizens.  "  On  one  hand 
was  a  civilian,  a  statesman,  versed  in  foreign  affairs, 
and  acquainted  with  business.  On  the  other  a  mili 
tary  chieftain,  practiced  in  war,  and  acquainted  with 
armies.  I  would  not,  I  could  not,  and  I  did  not  hes 
itate."  I  saw  Mr.  Clay  at  other  times,  and  followed 
his  political  fortunes  with  unflinching  fidelity,  be 
cause  he  was  a,  I  might  say  the  only,  leader  of  the 
Whig  party;  but  I  never  thought  him  equal  to  Mr. 
Webster,  nor  ever  liked  him  personally.  This  seems 
strange  to  myself,  for  there  is  no  one  man  in  public 
life  who  attracted  so  strongly  so  many  personal  fol 
lowers.  Horace  Greeley  stuck  to  him  with  the  tenac 
ity  of  Jonathan  to  David.  On  his  defeat,  in  1844,  I 
saw  strong,  intellectual  gentlemen  ready  to  weep;  and 
I  dare  say  some  did.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  only  man 
who  in  personal  following  could  rival  him.  Calhouu 


212  Personal  Memories. 


was  said  to  have  been  exceedingly  attractive  to  young 
men,  and  lie  always  paid  great  attention  to  them. 
While  I  admired  as  much  as  anyone  the  splendid 
bearing  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  adopted  to  its  full  extent  his 
American  policy,  I  had  no  personal  sympathy  with 
him.  He  belonged  to  the  Southern  school  of  poli 
ticians,  and  had  an  arbitrary,  antagonistic  way,  which 
seemed  to  look  down  upon  the  quiet  and  unobstrusive 
class  to  which  I  belonged.  Mr.  Clay  had,  however, 
in  that  very  class  many  of  his  warmest  admirers.  In 
after  years,  I  found  that  Webster  had  much  of  the 
same  sort  of  bearing,  and  my  admiration  for  him 
ceased  with  his  speech  on  the  7th  of  March,  1850, 
when  he  undertook  to  prove  that  the  laws  of  nature 
would  keep  slavery  out  of  the  territories  of  tile  West, 
and  it  was  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  we  legis 
lated  upon  it  or  not.  Neither  Clay  nor  Webster  were 
men  who  had  the  moral  courage  to  take  a  stand  upon 
human  rights,  and  defend  it  upon  the  ground  of  moral 
law.  The  Spirit  of  Laws  (Montesquieu)  had  been  writ 
ten  nearly  a  hundred  and  tifty  years  before,  and  yet  these 
two  great  American  leaders  were  behind  that  great 
work  in  the  perception  of  moral  justice.  Mr.  Clay 
deserves  great  credit,  however,  for  being  in  favor  of  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  Kentuck}7.  This  is  part  of  his 
early  record,  and  perhaps  his  early  record  is  the  best. 

Returning  to  the  dinner  at  Mack's,  his  speech  was 
very  effective,  and,  while  the  unfitness  of  Jackson  for 
the  presidency  was  made  clear,  so  also  the  charge  of 
"  bargain,  intrigue,  and  management"  was  entirely 
disproved  by  the  facts  brought  before  the  public. 
Nevertheless,  neither  facts  nor  argument  had  much 
effect  on  the  great  multitude  of  people,  who  are  se- 


Personal  Memories.  213 

duced  by  the  glare  of  military  glory.  Jackson  was 
elected  in  1828,  and  the  eight  years  of  his  administra 
tion  were  filled  with  the  most  extraordinary  mixture 
of  folly  and  patriotism,  of  domestic  factions,  and  na 
tional  boasting ;  of  political  wisdom  in  some  things, 
of  social  scandal  in  others;  of  the  most  extraordinary 
financial  schemes,  and  the  most  extraordinary  finan 
cial  disasters.*  Mr.  Clay  resigned  from  the  adminis 
tration  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  soon  after  re-entered 
congress. 

He,  like  Webster  and  Calhonn,  always  thought  him 
self  the  proper  man  to  make  a  president — was  four 
times  a  candidate,  and  three  times  voted  for  in  the 
electoral  college.  He  was  voted  for  in  1824, 1832,  and 
1844.  In  1840,  he  was  a  candidate  before  the  Harris- 
burg  Whig  Convention,  and  defeated  by  Harrison. 
He  thought,  and  perhaps  history  will  show,  that  the 
Whigs  made  a  great  blunder  in  not  nominating  him. 
lie  would  have  been  elected,  and,  unlike  Harrison,would 
in  all  probability  have  lived,  and  presented  to  the 
country  and  the  world  a  far  different  and  far  better 
administration  than  that  of  the  weak  and  prevaricat 
ing  Tyler.  In  the  election  of  1844,  Mr.  Clay  was  de 
feated  by  the  anti-slavery  vote  given  toBirney,  which 
operated  directly  in  favor  of  Polk,  the  Democratic 
candidate.  ~Ne\v  York  gave  Polk  only  5,000  majority, 
while  15,000  were  polled  for  Birney,  the  Abolition 
candidate.  It  was  fatal  to  Mr.  Clay,  and  fatal  to  the 
Whig  party,  which,  although  successful  in  1848,  went 
to  pieces  for  this  very  cause. 

The  world   can   not  fail  to  admit  and   admire  the 

*  See  journals  of  the  day. 


214  Personal  Memories. 

stern  heroism  and  the  moral  courage  which  induces 
some  men  to  leave  all  forms,  parties,  and  organiza 
tions,  even  friends  and  sound  policy,  to  vote  against 
popular  opinion,  and  maintain  for  conscience's  sake  a 
small  and  powerless  faction.  But,  whether  this  is 
wise;  whether  it  is  for  that  general  welfare,  which  is 
the  ohject  of  all  good  government,  will  remain  doubt 
ful  until  eternity  has  passed  its  judgment.  Except  to 
stir  up  the  hostility,  and  finally  the  open  secession  of 
the  slaveholders,  it  is  impossible  to  see  any  good  in 
the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay  by  a  side  faction.  BIRNEY  and 
his  followers  were  conscientious,  upright,  and  many  of 
them  able  men ;  but  it  is  certain  they  accomplished 
nothing  until  Providence  afflicted  the  South  with  that 
insanity,  described  in  the  proverb — "  Whom  the  gods 
will  destroy  they  first  make  mad/' 

I  fully  and  always  sympathized  with  the  anti-slavery 
party,  but  believed  that  it  was  safer  to  follow  John 
Quincy  Adams,  who  was  the  foremost,  boldest,  and 
ablest  opposer  of  slavery,  in  a  great  and  powerful 
organization,  than  to  follow  a  small,  however  consci 
entious  faction,  which,  in  itself,  could  not  be  success 
ful.  Mr.  Clay  was  one  of  those,  both  North  and 
South,  who  made  the  celebrated  compromise  of  1850. 
It  is  useless  to  say,  that  in  my  opinion,  that  compro 
mise  was  infamous,  a  thing  not  to  be  endured  by  any 
man  who  believed  in  human  rights  or  Christian  prin- 

^  J^»-J  '— —~-^  ^^jJ^--'        ""          "— — *- -^_ 

ciples.  \  Compromises  are  always  false  tix-^miciple, 
even  in  a  constitution  of  government;  but  when  they 
compromise  humanity,  morals,  and  rights,  they  give 
just  cause  for  resistance  in  all  forms.  Mr.  Clay  was 
then  in  the  senate,  and  survived  this  transaction  but 
u  short  time.  His  character  is  easily  understood.  lie 


Personal  Memories.  21") 

was  born  poor,  and  brought  up  with  little  regular  edu 
cation,  and,  for  that  reason,  was  never  able  to  shine  as 
a  writer  or  as  a  disciple  of  Cicero,  with  the  ore  rotunda 
of  a  Roman  senator.  It  would  be  as  great  an  error 
to  compare  him  to  Demosthenes,  for  the  Greek  orator 
was  an  accomplished  scholar.  The  art  of  Demosthenes 
was  not  the  wild  utterance  of  nature,  but  the  skillful 
art  of  the  student — studious  to  shine  in  an  audience 
of  scholars.  Cla^_ej29J^£nce_was  natural,  and  the 
ouly_xirt  lie  had  was  to  adapt  it  to  his  audience,  and 
thijt_k&-did~:willi_^e^ skill.  Whether  he  spoke  to 
the  polite  hearer  in  the  senate,  or  to  the  untutored 
hunters  of  Kentucky — he  knew  well  to  whom  he  was 
speaking — and  studied  the  means  to  convince  or  to 
please  them.  /  J3rought  up  among  slaveholders,  where 

flic  /passions  predominate  more  than  the  reason,  lie  was 
cry  and  impetuous,  but,  at  the  same  time,  possessed 
of  that  strong  sense  which  pointed  out  the  necessity 
of  courteous  manners  to  a  public  man,  and  the  policy 
of  pleasing  the  multitude.  Upon  the  whole,  Henry 
Clay  was  one  wTell  calculated  to  be  a  leader  among  men, 
and  to  attract  the  unmingled  admiration  of  his  follow 
ers.  If  he  had  been  more  of  a  scholar,  and  more  of 
what  the  world  calls  a  moralist,  he  would  have  had 
fewer  followers  and  admirers  among  the  Western  peo 
ple,  who  loved  more  the  frankness,  courage,  and  gal 
lantry  of  their  chief,  than  they  did  the  acquirements 
of  a  scholar,  or  the  strict  manners  of  a  moralist.  Mr. 
Adams  had  both  these,  but  never,  even  in  New  Eng 
land,  had  halt'  the  personal  popularity  of  Clay.  This 
difference  of  mind  and  manners  made  their  political 
union  very  surprising  to  the  public,  and  gave  rise  to 
some  of  the  severest  political  taunts  which  were  ever 


216  Personal  Memories. 

uttered  in  public  life.  One  of  these,  and  perhaps  the 
bitterest  ever  uttered,  was  that  of  John  Randolph. 
He  said,  in  the  senate,  that  the  union  of  Adams  and 
Clay  was  the  "  union  of  Black  George  and  Blifil — of 
the  Puritan  and  the  black  leg."*  On  this  Clay  chal 
lenged  him.  A  duel  was  fought,  Randolph,  I  believe, 
firing  in  the  air,  and  acknowledging  himself  clearly 
in  the  wrong. 

But  few  anecdotes  of  Clay  remain.  Two  I  will 
mention  as  illustrating  a  species  of  wit  which  Clay 
had  and  used  very  aptly.  The  first  occurred  in 
his  well-known  speech  to  the  hunters  of  Kentucky. 
In  1816,  he  had  been  one  of  a  majority  in  congress 
who  repealed  the  per  day  compensation  of  members 
of  congress,  and  substituted  a  salary.  Young  politi 
cians  will  be  astonished  to  learn  that  the  salary  was 
only  the  humble  sum  of  $1,500  a  year,  while  now  they 
have  modestly  voted  themselves  §5,000.  Small  as  this 
sum  was,  and  innocent  as  was  the  act,  it  raised  a  storm 
of  excitement  and  indignation.  Of  the  majority 
which  passed  that  act,  I  think  only  two  were  re-elected. 
Those  two  were  William  C.  Lowrndes,  of  South  Caro 
lina,  and  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky.  Mr.  Lowndes 
was  a  very  able  and  eminent  man  of  his  day.  He 
came  to  West  Point  to  place  a  son  there,  and  I  heard 
him  tell  my  father  that  the  act  was  right,  and  he  never 
gave  a  more  conscientious  vote  in  his  life.  The  aris 
tocracy  of  South  Carolina  made  no  complaint,  and 
Lowaules  was  easily  re-elected.  It  came  near  being 
very  different  with  Mr.  Clay.  His  district  ran  back 
from  Lexington,  where  he  lived,  into  the  mountains, 

*  Black  George  and  Blifil  were  two  villains  in  Fielding's 
novel  of  Tom  Jones. 


Personal  Memories.  217 

and  among  the  frontiersmen.  This  class — called -the 
"  hunters  of  Kentucky  " — had  been  very  much  at 
tached  to  Clay,  but  this  act  disgusted  them.  In  their 
simple  lives,  and  limited  views  of  life,  they  thought 
such  a  salary  enormous,  and  especially  as  its  members 
voted  it  themselves.  Mr.  Clay  foresaw  the  storm,  and 
called  a  meeting.  At  that  meeting  many  of  the 
<•  hunters  "  were  present,  with  lowering  brows.  In 
the  course  of  his  speech  Mr.  Clay  said,  fixing  his  eye 
on  one  of  his  old  supporters  :  "  Suppose,  my  friend, 
you  had  an  old  rifle,  which  you  had  borne  through 
the  hills  many  a  day,  and  it  had  never  failed  you,  but 
now  you  put  it  to  your  shoulder,  and  it  snapped,  but 
hung-fire,  would  you  break  the  stock  and  throw  it 
away,  or  would  you  try  it  again  ?"  "  I  would  try  it 
again  ;  we  '11  try  you  again,  Harry  Clay,"  shouted  the 
hunters. 

On  another  occasion,  toward  the  close  of  his  life,  he 
had  a  party  of  friends  to  dine  with  him  at  Ashland. 
"While  at  dinner,  a  servant  called  him  out  to  see  a 
gentleman.  He  apologized  to  the  company.  His  caller 
was  an  old  client.  When  he  returned  he  told  what 
had  occurred.  His  client  had  asked  him  to  plead  his 
case  before  the  Bourbon  County  Court.  Mr.  Clay 
said  that  he  had  retired  from  business,  and  did  not 
like  to  take  any  case.  But  his  friend  said  he  really 
must,  for  he  had  always  been  his  attorney.  "But," 
said  Mr.  Clay,  "  if  I  come,  I  must  charge  you  a  fee, 
which  you  will  perhaps  not  be  willing  to  pay."  "  How 
much,  Mr.  Clay  ?"  "  Four  hundred  dollars."  «  Then," 
said  his  client,  "  you  are  engaged."  "  Ah  !"  said 
Clay  to  his  guests,  "  when  we  are  old  we  are  like  the 


218  Personal  Memories. 

tortoise.     You  must  put  coals  of  fire  on  our  backs  to 
make  us  move." 

Toward  the  close  of  bis  life,  Mr.  Clay  joined  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  died  in  peace  with  all  man 
kind.  In  England  he  would  have  been  called,  what 
he  was — the  GREAT  COMMONER. 


Personal  Memories.  219 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Thomas  Corwin ;  Jus  Genius,  Career,  Eloquence,  and 
Character — Jackson  ;  his  Canvass  for  t lie  Presidency — 
"Truth's  Advocate  " — Burr  and  Jackson. 

IN  the  summer  of  1825,  I  took  a  short  journey 
through  the  Miami  country  on  horseback.  I  was 
riding  alone  in  a  piece  of  woods,  between  Hamilton 
and  Lebanon,  when  I  overtook  a  young  man  also  on 
horseback.  There  was  something  in  his  appearance 
which  struck  my  attention.  He  was  very  dark  in 
complexion  and  hair,  with  a  sort  of  swarthy  look, 
more  like  an  Indian  than  the  whites.  He  was  full- 
fleshed,  with  a  quick,  piercing  eye,  and  pleasant  ex 
pression.  We  made  ourselves  known,  and  I  found 
that  he  was  CORWIN,  afterward  known  as  Tom  Cor 
win,  the  "  wagon-boy."  He  got  this  soubriquet  from 
the  fact  that  he  had  driven  wagons  in  his  youth.  He 
was  now  at  the  bar,  and  was  returning  from  the  court 
at  Hamilton  to  his  home  at  Lebanon.  As  there  is,  I 
believe,  no  memoir  of  him,  and  as  few  men  were  so 
deservedly  distinguished,  I  will  here  relate  what  I 
know  of  him,  and  what  came  to  my  ears  from  authen 
tic  sources.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky,  near  Mays- 
ville.  Thence  his  family  moved,  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  to  or  near  the  present  town  of  Lebanon. 
They  were  among  the  oldest  and  best  pioneer  settlers 
of  Warren  county.  There  he  grew  up,  with  only  the 
primitive  education  which  was  given  in  the  family  and 


220  Personal  Memories. 

log  school-houses.  But,  where  there  is  a  native 
vigor,  brightness,  and  quickness  of  intellect,  with  an 
ambitious  spirit,  it  does  not  take  a  great  deal  of  classic 
learning  to  give  education,  or  make  a  successful  life. 
Corwin  had  all  the  vigor  and  vivacity  of  intellect  re 
quired,  and  the  great  talent  of  a  taste  for  reading. 
Reading  gives  both  fullness  and  breadth  of  mind. 
Corwin,  in  after  years,  had  both,  but  the  brilliance  of 
his  eloquence,  his  wit,  and  humor  were  due  to  other 
and  even  better  qualities.  He  had  a  most  genial  disposi 
tion,  kind  feelings,  and  an  almost,  marvelous  suscepti 
bility  to  the  humorous  points  of  men,  society,  and  sit 
uations.  "No  man  better  understood  the  keenness  of 
iron}%  nor  the  power  of.  an  argument  when  feathered 
with  wit  and  made  pleasing  by  humor.  In  fine,  he 
stood  alone  among  orators,  by  the  peculiar  and  re 
markable  character  of  his  mind.  Perhaps  the  best 
way  to  give  some  idea  of  him  as  an  orator  wrill  be  by 
practical  illustrations.  His  first  public  appearance 
was  in  the  Ohio  legislature.  That  was  near  fifty  years 
ago,  when  some  of  the  primitive  laws  and  institutions 
still  remained  in  Ohio.  Among  others,  the  whipping 
post  still  remained,  whipping  being  an  old  Kew  Eng 
land  punishment  for  small  offenders.  Some  member 
had  introduced  a  bill  repealing  the  whipping  law. 
Upon  this,  a  member  from  Trumbull  county  rose  and 
said  he  saw  no  objection  to  the  whipping-post.  He 
always  observed  that  when  a  man  was  whipped  in  his 
state  (Connecticut)  that  he  immediately  left  the  state. 
Corwin  arose  and  said  that  "  he  knew  a  great  many 
people  had  come  to  Ohio  from  Connecticut,  but  he 
never  before  knew  the  reason  for  their  coming  !"  A 
few  years  after  this,  Corwin  wras  a  member  of  congress 


Personal  Memories.  221 

from  the  Warren  county  district.  There  was  also  in 
the  house  a  General  Crary  (general  in  the  militia), 
from  Michigan.  Crary  made  a  pompous  speech  on  the 
boundary  question,  flaming  with  the  eloquence  of  war. 
Corwin  answered  with  a  description  of  the  heroism, 
victories,  experiences,  and  accomplishments  of  a  mili 
tia  general.  He  represented  the  gallant  militia  as 
sembling  on  training-day,  some  with  cornstalks,  some 
with  canes,  and  some  wi'h  umbrellas,  flanked  on  the 
right  with  wagons  of  watermelons,  and  on  the  left 
with  carts  of  gingerbread,  the  whole  inspirited  with 
the  rattling  drum  and  squeaking  life.  Then  appeared 
the  heroic  general  heading  his  troops  in  a  tremendous 
charge  on  the  watermelons.  His  nodding  plumes  at 
at  the  head  of  the  column,  while  rusty  swords  and 
broken  firelocks  slew  and  slashed  the  watermelons  ! 
From  scenes  like  these  the  illustrious  general  of  Mich 
igan  had  returned,  flushed  with  glory  and  full  of 
heroic  experience,  to  lead  an  army  against  the  invaders 
on  the  border  !  The  house  wras  carried  away  with 
mirth,  and  General  Crary  was  heard  of  no  more. 
Corwin  continued  in  congress,  and  a  short  time  after 
appeared  as  one  of  the  orators  of  the  great  Harrison 
campaign,  in  1840.  He  was  .known  then  as  "  Tom 
Corwin,  the  wagon  boy."  That  campaign  was  sig 
nalized,  among  other  remarkable  features,  by  giving 
soubriquets  to  the  political  chiefs,  which  signified  some 
alliance  with  common  people.  Governor  Metcalfe, 
of  Kentucky,  a  strong  friend  of  Harrison,  was  known 
as  "  old  stone-hammer,"  because  he  had  been  a  stone 
mason.  So  Corwin  was  called  the  "wagon  boy."  He 
appeared  at  almost  all  of  the  great  meetings  in  the 
state,  and  was  everywhere  attended  by  crowds.  He 


222  Personal  Memories. 

used  to  relate  with  much  humor  his  reception  one 
afternoon  at  Poland,  Mahoning  county.  The  West 
ern  Reserve  (at  least  a  large  part  of  it)  is  laid  out  with 
roads  at  ri«fht-angles,  and  on  straight  lines,  meeting  in 
the  center  of  the  township,  where  the  town  must  be, 
whether  or  no.  Such  was  Poland,  and  Corwin  was 
put  at  the  head  of  a  procession  marching  on  a  straight 
line  to  Poland.  The  hour  was  late.  There  had  been 
a  delay.  They  could  see  the  town-green  tilled  with 
people,  and  the  platform  erected.  The  deacons  of 
the  churches  were  the  principal  men,  and  managed  the 
business.  When  Corwin  arrived,  one  of  the  deacons 
arose,  and  said  :  "  Brethren,  this  is  Brother  Cor-wine. 
Let  us  give  Brother  Cor-wine  three  cheers.  One — 
hurra!  Two — hurra!  Three — hurra!"  All  were 
given  as  regularly  as  the  clock  strikes,  and  Brother 
Corwine  was  much  amused. 

It  would  be  unsafe  to  judge  from  such  examples  that 
Corwin  was  not  forcible  in  argument,  for  he  was. 
But  he  chose,  and  perhaps  rightly,  to  illustrate  his  ar 
guments  with  those  touches  of  wit  and  humor  which 
kept  the  people  in  good  temper,  and  fixed  their  atten 
tion.  On  one  occasion,  in  the  heated  canvass  of  1844, 
1  was  present  at  one  of.  the  best  exhibitions  of  his  pe 
culiar  eloquence.  It  was  at  Carthage,  near  Cincin 
nati.  A  grove  of  trees  near  that  village  had  been  a 
popular  place  for  political  gatherings.  The  nomina 
tion  of  POLK  and  the  Texas  question  had  excited  the 
Whigs,  and  they  put  forth  their  full  strength  to  elect 
Henry  Clay,  which  they  confidently  expected.  The 
meeting  at  Carthage  was  a  very  large  one.  I  estimated 
at  the  time  that  there  were  near  8,000  people  pres 
ent.  However  that  may  be,  it  was  a  large  and  spirited 


Personal  Memories.  223 

meeting.  The  orator  of  the  clay  was  Corvvin.  The 
day  was  line,  the  trees  green  above  us,  and  the  audi 
ence  intelligent.  Corvvin  began  with  what  few  orators 
da-re  do  at  that  time — for  the  Democrats  had  made  the 
name  of  Federalist  odious — a  splendid  eulogy  on  Al 
exander  Hamilton.  In  this  he  was  grave  and  cour 
teous,  pointing  out  the  great  abilities  and  services  of 
Hamilton,  in  giving  success  and  stability  to  the  treas 
ury.  From  this  he  proceeded  to  the  Texas  question 
and  all  the  matters  of  public  policy.  At  last  he  came 
to  the  nomination  of  Polk,  who  was  comparatively  an 
unknown  man.  He  had  been  selected  as  a  sort  of  non 
entity  to  defeat  Van  Buren,  who  ought  to  have  been 
nominated.  It  was  one  of  those  blunders  which  the 
Democratic  party  frequently  makes.  The  friends  of 
Cass,  in  the  convention  of  1844,  had  defeated  Van 
Buren,  and  in  turn  the  friends  of  Van  Buren  defeated 
Cass  in  the  election  of  1848,  when  the  Whig  candi 
date  (Taylor)  was  elected.  When  Corvvin  came  to 
mention  Polk  (the  unknown)  it  was  done  with  a  humor 
which  I  have  never  seen  surpassed.  "  And  who  have 
they  nominated?  James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee? 
(Then  he  paused,  and  turning  his  head  slowly  from 
one  side  of  the  audience  to  the  other,  with  the  most 
surprised  expression.)  After  that,  who  is  safe  ?"  He 
closed  his  speech  with  the  most  rapturous  applause. 

It  was  about  two  years  after  that  the  war  with  Mex 
ico  came  on,  and  Corwin  took  part  against  the  war. 
This  is  always  a  dangerous  thing  for  a  public  man  ; 
for  in  a  war  with  a  foreign  country  almost  all  men 
sympathize  with  their  own  country,  however  wrong 
it  may  be  in  a  moral  point  of  view.  Few  men  who 
examine  the  question  will  think  we  had  just  cause  of 


224  Personal  Memories. 

war  with  Mexico.  Yet,  looking  back  over  the  thirty 
years  which  have  elapsed,  no  man  can  doubt  that  we 
have  derived  great  and  immense  advantage  from  it. 
We  got  California  and  Nevada,  with  security  for 
Texas,  by  the  war  with  Mexico.  If  all  moral  ideas 
are  to  be  excluded  from  the  conduct  of  nations,  and 
they  have  by  common  consent  a  right  to  aggrandize 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  their  neighbors,  then  a 
war  to  acquire  California  is  as  justifiable  as  a  war  for 
independence.  Mr.  Corwin  did  not  take  that  view  of 
it,  and  made  a  speech  in  the  senate,  which,  in  real 
vigor  and  excellence,  has,  perhaps,  not  been  excelled 
in  the  American  senate.  He  had  been,  as  I  have 
said,  a  reader,  with  a  good  library.  The  examples  of 
history  were  before  him,  and  he  used  them  with  signal 
effect.  He  snid  the  country  was  large  enough,  and  a 
war  of  ambition  and  conquest  could  only  serve  to  de 
moralize  the  people;  that  the  war  was  unjust,  and 
that  if  he  were  a  Mexican  he  would  receive  the  in 
vaders  with  "  bloody  ri'es  atid  hospitable  graves." 
The  last  phrase  was  unfortunate,  for  his  political  op 
ponents  seized  upon  it  as  a  want  of  patriotism.  He 
had  been  talked  of  for  the  presidency,  but  after  this 
he  was  seldom  mentioned  in  this  connection.  Never 
theless,  his  speech  was  one  of  the  best  examples  of 
American  oratory,  and  he  remained  in  public  office 
until  the  close  of  his  life. 

The  following  letter  from  Henry  Wilson,  late  Yice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  Joshua  Giddin^s.  of 

O      ' 

Ohio,  shows  what  an  extraordinary  effect  was  pro 
duced  on  the  public  mind  by  Corwin's  speech  on  the 
Mexican  War,  and  how  the  anti-slavery  feeling  was 
rising  against  the  compromise  measures  of  Webster 
and  his  friends  : 


Personal  Memories.  225 

"  NATICK,  February  24,  1847. 
"Hon.J.  E.  GMdings: 

"DEAR  SIR: — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the 
12 th  inst.,  and  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  the 
information  communicated.  There  is  a  strong  feel 
ing  here  in  Massachusetts  in  favor  of  hold  action, 
and  the  course  of  yourself  and  others,  especially 
the  Whigs  from  your  state,  meets  the  approbation  of 
the  great  mass  of  our  people.  We  are  much  pleased 
with  the  speeches  of  Hudson  and  Ashman,  but  the 
people  are  delighted  with  the  speech  of  Corwin.  He 
has  touched  the  popular  heart,  and  the  question  asked 
in  the  cars,  streets,  houses,  and  everywhere  where 
men  assemble,  is :  Have  you  read  Tom  Corwm's 
speech  ?  Its  boldness  and  high  moral  tone  meet 
the  feelings  here,  and  the  people  of  New  England 
will  respond  to  it,  and  tens  of  thousands  want  to 
hear  more  from  him.  Tell  him  to  come  out,  though, 
in  favor  of  the  Wilmot  proviso.  We  all  hope  and 
expect  it  of  him.  We  can  give  him  every  state  in 
New  England,  if  he  will  take  the  right  ground  against 
slavery.  How  I  should  like  to  vote  for  him  and  some 
good  non-slaveholder  for  vice-president  in  1848.  * 
*  *  I  suppose  that  Webster,  Clayton,  Mangurn,  and 
Crittenden  will  be  against  him,  for  his  speech  was  a 
terrible  rebuke  to  them,  and  I  am  much  mistaken  if 
some  of  them  very  readily  forget  or  forgive  him. 
Their  position  is  a  most  disgraceful  one,  and  I  do  not 
see  how  they  are  to  get  out  of  it.  I  hope  you  will 
continue  to  use  every  effort  to  bring  our  friends 
right.  *  *  * 

"Yours,  truly, 

"  HENRY  WILSON." 


226  Personal  Memories. 

Horace  Greeley  wrote  at  the  same  time.to  Giddings, 
saying  that  Corwin  was  his  first  choice  for  the  presi 
dency,  and  Seward  for  vice-president !  Reversing  the 
order  in  which  the  distinguished  New  Yorker  was 
held,  and  anticipating  exactly  what  Greeley  did  when 
he  defeated  the  nomination  of  Seward  in  the  Chicago 
Convention  of  1860. 

For  twenty  years  after  this,  Corwin  continued  in 
public  office.  He  was  embassador  to  Mexico,  and 
member  of  congress  from  his  old  district,  and  finally 
a  member  of  the  Peace  Convention.  Just  before 
his  death,  sitting  in  a  large  party,  he  said,  with 
some  bitterness,  that  he  would  be  remembered  only  as 
a  jester  or  a  humorist.  In  this  lie  did  himself  injus 
tice.  He  did  use  wit  and  humor  to  illustrate  his 
points  and  conciliate  the  people;  but  behind  these  al 
ways  lay  great  principles  of  truth  and  justice.  We  can 
not  place  Corwin  on  the  same  level  with  Hamilton, 
Adams,  or  Clinton  ;  but  we  can  say  that  no  man 
among  them  was  animated  with  a  better  spirit,  or  saw 
truth  in  a  clearer  light,  or  more  steadily  advocated  the 
best  interests  of  his  country.  He  was  a  fine  specimen 
of  that  sort  of  a  man  who  sprung  up  in  the  pioneer 
age.  With  no  great  education,  with  no  society  of  the 
great,  he  was  the  peer  of  those  who  had,  and  lived  in 
a  republican  country  with  just  ideas  of  what  a  repub 
lic  should  be. 

On  the  accession  of  Fillmore  to  the  presidency, 
in  1850,  Corwin  was  appointed  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  and  remained  until  the  accession  of  Pierce, 
in  March,  1853.  In  the  summer  of  1852,  Mr.  W. 
JD.  Gallagher  and  myself  were  appointed  by  Mr.  Cor 
win,  under  a  resolution  of  the  senate,  to  report 


Personal  Memories.  227 

the  statistics  of  our  steam  marine.  In  the  course  of 
that  time,  and  while  Corwin  was  secretary,  I  got  a 
striking  evidence  of  what  is  called  "  red  tape,"  and 
the  necessity  of  what  I  would  call  a  business,  rather 
than  a  civil,  reform.  I  wanted  the  steam  statistics  of 
New  Orleans,  and  wrent  to  one  of  the  bureaus  of  the 
treasury  department,  where  they  should  be,  because  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  collectors  of  the  ports  to  report 
them  quarterly.  There  I  found  the  head  of  the  bu 
reau  talking  with  a  friend  on  the  price  and  virtues  of 
partridges,  evidently  thinking  the  partridge  question 
of  more  import-nice  than  any  public  business.  I  asked 
him  for  the  last  report  of  the  steam  navigation  of  New 
Orleans,  and  he  pointed  me  to  a  pigeon-hole  in  a  bu 
reau.  I  got  hold  of  the  collector's  report,  and,  after 
an  examination,  found  that  it  was  wholly  wrong. 
There  were  many  more  steamboats  reported  at  New 
Orleans  than  existed  there,  or  had  been  there  for  years. 
What  was  the  matter,  I  could  not  see,  until,  after  com 
paring  several  reports,  I  found  that  the  collector,  or 
his  clerk,  had  regularly  copied  into  the  last  report  all 
that  was  in  the  former  one;  so  that  in  his  report  of 
what  should  be  the  then  steam  marine  of  New  Or 
leans,  he  had  put  fifty  or  a  hundred  steamboats  de 
stroyed  or  lost  years  before.  In  the  same  office  I 
found  another  error  of  the  same  description.  I  wanted 
the  shipments  of  vessels  owned  on  the  Atlantic.  It 
was  a  part  of  the  same  inquiry.  The  collectors  of  the 
ports  were  to  report  them.  It  could  be  done,  because 
all  vessels  of  the  United  States  are  registered,  and,  if 
they  were  lost,  it  would,  after  a  time,  be  known.  I 
turned  in  the  same  office  to  a  book  containing  these 
reports.  I  took  up  that  of  Portland,  Maine,  and 


228  Personal  Memories. 

found  at  one  glance  that  it  was  totally  deficient,  and 
was  obliged  at  last  to  resort  to  the  shipping  lists  and 
insurance  companies  of  New  York.  Here,  it  is  very 
evident,  is  a  want  of  reform  in  the  very  business  of  the 
department.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  bureau  officer  to 
have  these  returns  corrected.  But  what  did  he  know 
about  it?  He  was  much  more  interested  in  partridges. 
The  difficulty  in  these  cases  is  the  want  of  a  super 
vising  officer.  It  is  impossible  for  the  secretary  to 
supervise  these  bureaus  ;  for  his  whole  time  is  taken 
up  with  members  of  congress  and  the  general  business 
of  the  treasury.  It  took  me  hours  to  get  into  Cor- 
win's  office,  and  years  after  it  took  a  long  time  to  see 
Mr.  Chase.  Whether  this  evil  has  been  corrected,  I 
know  not ;  but  it  is  certain  if  ever  civil  reform  is  un 
dertaken,  it  must  consist  in  a  great  deal  more  than  in 
the  mode  of  appointment.  That  is  the  least  part  of 
the  evil.  Appoint  the  minor  officers  as  you  may,  who 
is  to  supervise  the  detached  bureaus  and  see  the  whole 
machinery  of  work  kept  up  to  its  whole  duty. 

The  canvass  for  the  presidency  in  1828  was  con 
ducted  with  great  bitterness.  Other  elections  since 
have  excited  more  national  feeling,  but  none  have 
brought  out  more  bitter  personal  assaults,  defamations, 
and  controversy.  The  reason  for  this  is  found  in  the 
personal  characters  of  Jackson  and  Clay,  who  were 
the  real  opponents,  although  Adams  was  the  candi 
date  against  Jackson.  Both  these  men  had  been 
brought  up  among  slaves,  and  imbibed  all  the  spirit 
of  Southern  aristocracy.  They  were  both  courteous 
men  in  society,  and  sometimes  kind  and  generous,  but 
impetuous  in  controversy,  and  despotic  in  bearing. 
They  lived  in  the  tige  of  dueling,  and  both  had  fought 


Personal  Memories.  229 

duels.  Jackson  was  called  by  his  enemies,  with  al 
most  literal  truth,  "  the  hero  of  two  Avars  and  forty 
frays."  He  and  Benton  had  fought  in  the*  streets  of 
Nashville,  and  he  had  killed  two  or  three  men  in 
duels.  He  had  commanded  in  Florida,  when  two 
men  (Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister)  were  taken,  as  he 
claimed,  as  spies,  and  he  hung  them  both  up  without 
any  authority.  On  another  occasion,  he  had  tried  and 
shot  six  militia-men.  "With  many  good  qualities, 
especially  courage,  boldness,  and  enterprise,  he  was 
arbitrary  and  despotic.  Jefferson  was  alive  when 
Jackson  was  first  mentioned  for  the  presidency,  in 
1824,  and  said  he  was  just  as  fit  for  the  presidency  as 
a  cock  for  a  sailor.  In  fact,  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans, 
which  Counselor  Sampson  called  "that  deathbed  of 
British  glory,"  was  his  single,  and,  as  it  proved,  his 
most  successful  claim  to  be  president.  He  was  first 
nominated  somewhere  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  by 
some  men  who  were,  as  politicians  always  are,  hunting 
for  an  available  man,  and  afterward  came  forward 
claiming  the  merit  of  having  discovered  Jackson.  In 
Pennsylvania,  and  two  or  three  other  states,  his  nom 
ination  took  like  wild-fire,  while  the  Southern  states 
were  carried  for  him  by  the  friends  of  Crawford.  Mr. 
Clay  was  unable  to  carry  for  Adams  any  one  of  the 
states  whicb  had  voted  for  himself.  Mr.  Adams  held 
and  carried  all  his  own  strength,  while  he  derived 
none  from  Mr.  Clay.  The  causes  of  this  were  very 
obvious.  The  Western  states,  which  had  voted  for 
Clay,  were  composed  of  exactly  those  people  who  are 
most  susceptible  to  the  idea  of  military  glory.  In 
fine,  they  were  carried  by  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  canvass  of  1828  was  con- 


230  Personal  Memories. 

ducted,  as  I  have  said,  with  extreme  bitterness. 
The  bitter  taunt  of  Randolph,  in  the  senate,  upon 
Clay,  and  the  duel  which  followed,  were  typical  of  the 
continued  assaults  upon  Clay  for  the  next  four  years. 
The  attack  upon  Jackson  was  equally  bitter,  with  a 
good  deal  more  material  to  support  it.  This  was  be 
fore  the  formation  of  the  Whig  party  proper,  and  we 
who  opposed  Jackson  were  merely  called  an ti- Jack 
son  men.  The  basis  of  this  organization  was  the  com 
bination  of  the  supporters  of  Adams  and  Clay  in 
1827.  We  were  abused  as  a  "  coalition  "  formed  to 
keep  office,  while  the  people,  it  was  said,  were  for 
Jackson.  Before  this,  CHARLES  HAMMOND  had  come 
to  Cincinnati,  from  Belmont  county,  where  he  had 
practiced  law,  and  was  a  strong  friend  of  Clay.  This 
reminds  me  of  the  first  time  I  saw  Hammond,  and  the 
disgust  I  had  for  his  manners,  although  in  fact  no 
man  could  be  better  behaved  than  Hammond.  lie 
was  sitting  on  a  dry -goods  box,  at  the  corner  of  Main 
and  Third  streets,  A  young  man  was  sitting  beside 
with  his  arm  around  Hammond's  neck — cheek-by- 
jowl.  To  see  a  young  man  thus  treating  a  compara 
tively  old  man  of  high  standing  was  a  scene  to  which 
I  was  utterly  unaccustomed,  and  was  contrary  to  all 
my  idens  of  good  breeding.  This  was  not  the  only 
case,  by  any  means,  in  which  I  found  that  the  venera 
tion  forage  and  station,  which.was  taught  in  New  Eng 
land,  was  not  felt  in  the  West.  The  young  man  who 
was  thus  hugging  Hammond  was  William  II.  Harrison, 
Jr.,  the  eldest  son  of  Gen.  Harrison,  who  soon  after 
died. 

Hammond,  as  I  have  said,  had  come  to  Cincinnati 
politically  the  friend  of  Clay.     In  point  of  law,  infer- 


Personal  Memories.  231 


mation,  and  skill  in  writing,  he  was  the  superior  of 
Clay.     He  and  "a  few  Adams  men  devised  a  monthly 
publication  against  Jackson,  called  "  TRUTH'S  ADVO 
CATE,"  and  it  was  terribly  severe  on  Jackson,  chiefly 
because  it  was  truth  that  it  stated   and  proved.     But 
of  what  value  is  truth  when  opposed  to  human  pas 
sions  ?     The  impression  left  upon  me  is  that  in  politics 
men  neither  want  to  hear  truth  nor  care  for  it  when 
it  is  told.     In  this  case  it  may  be  said  that  the  force 
of   -Truth's  Advocate"  was   broken    by  an   apparent 
attack  on  Mrs.  Jackson,  which  reacted.     But  in  fact 
it  was  not  an  attack  on  Mrs.  Jackson,  but  on  Jack 
son's  marriage  with  her.     The  facts  were  these:  Mrs. 
Jackson,  when  young,  was  married  to  a  man  in  East 
Tennessee,  who  used  her  ill.     At  that  time  Jackson 
became  acquainted   with   her.     Soon   after  she  com 
menced  a  suit  for  divorce  from   her  husband.     The 
country  was  very  thinly  settled.     The  courts  sat   at 
great  distances  from  the  parties.     It  was  known  that 
the   divorce  suit  was  commenced,  and   it  was   confi 
dently    reported    the    decree    of    divorce    had    been 
granted.     On  that,  Jackson  was  married  to   the   di 
vorced  lady.     It  turned  out  that  the  decree  had  been 
delayed,  and  that  at  the  time  of  the  marriage.  Mrs. 
Jackson  had  not  been  legally  divorced.    The  marriage 
was  innocent  in  intention,  but   illegal   in   fact.     Tiie 
decree  of  divorce  was  made  a  few  days  after.     This 
transaction  was  set  forth  in  Truths  Advocate,  not  cer 
tainly  to  injure  Mrs.  Jackson,  but  to  show  the  char 
acter  of  Jackson,  as  regardless  of  law,  when  inter 
fering  with   his  purpose.     Mrs.  Jackson   was  always 
esteemed  a  kind,  Christian  woman,  and  at  her  death 
Jackson  lamented  her  with  deep  grief. 


232  Personal  Memories. 

Another  transaction,  described  accurately  in  Truth's 
Advocate,  was  Jackson's  connection  with  Burr.  It 
was  known  that  Burr  had  boats  built  on  the  Cumber 
land  for  his  expedition,  and  that  Burr  visited  Jackson 
at  Nashville,  and  that  Jackson  had  something  to  do 
with  the  boats.  But  it  was  not  proved  that  Jackson 
knew  anything  of  the  object  of  the  boats  beyond  an 
emigration  to  Western  Louisiana  ;  nor  has  it  ever  been 
proved  that  Burr's  expedition  had  anything  more 
treasonable  in  it  than  afterward  took  place  in  the 

emigration   to   Texas  and  the  seizure  of  a  Mexican 

o 

territory.  It  is  true,  however,  that  those  who  knew 
Burr  in  the  West,  believed  the  object  was  the  separa 
tion  of  the  Western  States  from  the  Union.  It  is  one 
of  the  mysteries  of  history  that  Burr  should  be  able 
to  organize  a  great  expedition;  should  have  talked  to 
hundreds,  if  not  thousands  of  people  on  the  subject; 
should  have  enlisted  able,  public  men  in  its  favor,  and 
yet  that  it  should  never  be  revealed  what  was  the 
man's  object.  Nothing  can  better  illustrate  the  artful 
ness  of  Burr's  character.  No  man  of  his  times  has 
been  more  talked  about  than  Aaron  Burr.  No  man 
has  had  more  enemies,  or  left  the  world  in  much 
worse  odor.  And  yet  Burr  had  come  of  a  very  re 
ligious,  Christian  family;  was  a  man  of  shining  tal 
ents;  had  served  reputably  in  the  war  of  the  Revolu 
tion  ;  had  been  in  the  family  of  Washington ;  was  an 
able  lawyer,  and  among  his  last'  public  performances 
presided  over  the  Senate  with  great  dignity.  The 
licentiousness  which  was  so  strongly  charged  upon 
him,  was  shared  with  many  officers  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  army.  In  tine,  up  to  his  duel  with  Hamilton, 
his  career  seems  to  have  been  approved  by  the  public, 


'     Personal  Memories.  233 

and  his  vices  covered  with  the  mantle  of  admiration 
for  his  ability.  Here  we  come  to  another  historical 
enigma.  Why  should  his  duel  be  charged  upon  him 
as  so  much  greater  crime  and  disgrace  than  upon 
Hamilton?  As  a  duel,  it  was  shared  equally  between 
them.  If  Burr  was  known  to  be  vicious,  Hamilton 
was  by  no  means  spotless.  But  if  we  were  to  judge 
by  the  splendid  sermon  of  DR.  NOTT  in  his  eulogy,  \ve 
should  think  the  world  had  lost  an  unequaled  apostle 
of  virtue.  Hamilton  was,  in  the  common  phase  of  the 
world,  a  great  man,  and  compared  with  Burr,  was  an 
example  of  honor  and  morality.  But  the  main  cause 
of  the  public  judgment  in  this  case  was  political  and 
social.  Hamilton  had  married  Miss  Schuyler,  asso 
ciated  with  the  best  and  proudest  aristocracy  of  New 
York.  He  w<is  the  friend  and  associate  of  Washing 
ton,  lie  was  really  great  in  his  management  of  the 
treasury  department,  and  more  than  that,  he  was  the 
bright,  particular  star  of  the  Federal  party,  its  apostle 
and  leader.  He  had  quarreled  with  John  Adams, 
and  if  anyone  wants  to  see  an  account  of  Hamilton 
quite  different  from  Dr.  Nott's,  he  need  only  read  a 
letter  from  Adams  to  Jefferson,  contained  in  the  life 
and  correspondence  of  Adams.  In  that,  he  says, 
among  other  things,  that  it  is  only  necessary  in  the 
future  to  have  two  such  adventurers  as  Hamilton  and 
Burr,  with  their  talents  and  ambition,  to  rise  at  the 
head  of  factions,  in  order  to  destroy  the  government 
and  Union.  How  near  this  came  to  be  fulfilled  in  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion,  is  well  known.  Adams  hated 
Hamilton,  and  Jefferson  hated  both  Hamilton  and 
Burr.  When  the  snows  of  eighty  years  had  passed 


234  .        Personal  Memories. 

over  their  heads,  their  memories  were  yet  heated  with 
the  tires  of  political  rivalry. 

But  I  must  return  from  this  episode  to  my  subject. 
Burr  did  visit  Jackson  on  the  Cumberland,  and,  in 
Borne  respects,  they  were  not  unlike,  but,  in  all  that 
regards  patriotism  and  profound  interest  in  his  country 
and  countrymen,  Jackson  was  far  the  superior,  and 
also  in  that  broader  view  of  policy  which  discarded 
all  artifice,  and  openly  and  boldly  pursues  its  objects. 
It  is  reported  that  Burr  afterward  said  that  he  had 
found  in  Jackson,  on  the  Cumberland,  a  man  who  was 
fit  to  be  a  leader  and  commander. 

Truth's  Advocate  published  all  that  was  known  of 
Jackson  and  Burr  in  this  boat-building  business,  but 
there  was  nothing  in  the  affair  which  really  indicated 
any  want  of  patriotism  or  duty  on  the  part  of  Jack 
son.  These,  and  many  other  matters  were  published 
in  Truths  Advocate,  but  whether  it  did  more  good  or 
harm  is  doubtful.  The  world  does  not  seem  very  anx 
ious  to  learn  truth,  and  still  less  to  he  judged  by  it. 
It  may,  however,  be  safely  said  that  the  publication 
of  truth,  in  regard  to  Jackson,  greatly  diminished  the 
popularity  with  which  he  came  into  office,  and  his  ar 
bitrary  acts  in  office  made  it  impossible  for  his  suc 
cessor  (Van  Buren)  to  be  either  popular  or  successful. 

The  canvass  of  1828  was,  as  I  said,  conducted  with 
great  personal  bitterness,  but  far  more  honestly  than 
elections  are  now,  and  with  far  more  truth  in  the 
statements  made.  It  is  true  that  the  charges  against 
Mr.  Clay,  of  "bargain,  intrigue,  and  management," 
had  no  just  grounds,  and  that  the  illegality  of  Jack 
son's  marriage  made  no  moral  crime,  but,  after  all, 
there  were  no  charges  made  which  had  not  some  ap- 


Personal  Memories.  235 


pearance  of  fact,  and  there  was  no  attempt  to  corrupt 
the  public  mind,  or  to  make  the  offices  of  the  country 
the  spoils  of  party.  That  was  reserved  for  the  second 
administration  of  Jackson,  when  the  corrupt  New 
York  politicians,  of  the  Tammany  class,  had  got  his 
ear  and  confidence,  through  what  was  called  the 
"  Kitchen  Cabinet."  The  scenes  which  then  occurred 
are  the  most  remarkable  in  our  history,  and,  in  some 
respects,  the  worst.  Private  scandal  and  public  cor 
ruption  then  began  that  influence  in  public  affairs 
which  have  pervaded  politics  ever  since. 

Apparently  Mr.  Adams  was  defeated  by  a  very  large 
majority  of  the  electoral  vote,  but  really  the  majority  was 
comparatively  small.  Jackson  had  received  a  popu 
lar  majority  over  Adams,  in  1824,  of  50,000,  in  a  vote 
of  350,000.  In  1828  he  received  a  majority  of  138,000, 
in  a  vote  of  1,156,000,  not  so  large,  in  proportion,  as 
before.  In  1824,  five  states  chose  electors  by  the  legis 
latures.  Anyone  can  see,  b}T  examining  the  votes  of 
1828,  how  little  the  strength  of  parties  has  changed 
since.  The  truth  is,  that  politics,  like  religion,  de 
scend  from  father  to  son,  with  little  variation.  In  two 
hundred  years  of  English  history,  we  see  only  alter 
nation  between  the  great  Whig  and  Tory  parties. 


236  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Nullification — Calhoun's  Theory — Hamilton's  Speech — 
South  Carolina  Volunteers — Curious  Incidents  in.  South 
Carolina —  Webster's  Speech — Jackson's  Position —  The 
Proclamation —  The  Tariff —  The  Compromise — Failure 
of  Oratory — Success  of  the  Republic. 

THE  presidential  election  of  1828  was  scarcely  over, 
when  there  arose  another  controversy  of  wider  and 
deeper  significance.  In  1828,  was  passed  a  new  tariff 
act,  which  adopted  and  enforced  the  principle  of  pro 
tection  to  certain  interests,  especially  with  a  view  to 
encourage  and  support  American  manufactures.  Wool 
and  woolens  were  particularly  protected.  This  act 
gave  great  offense  to  the  cotton  states,  which  now 
adopted,  under  the  lead  of  MR.  CALHOUN,  the  doctrine 
that  to  diminish  the  imports  was  to  diminish  the  ex 
ports,  and,  consequently,  to  diminish  the  value  of  the 
cotton  crops.  They  claimed  to  raise  the  cheapest  and 
best  cotton  in  the  world,  and  yet  asserted  that  they 
could  not  export  it  in  proportion  if  we  did  not  import 
freely.  I  do  not  argue  this  point.  It  was  quite  plausi 
ble.  But  I  ttish  to  recall  some  of  the  consequences. 
The  tariff'r  of  1824,  was  pretty  high,  and  the  tariff'  of 
1828  higher.  Then  the  orators  of  South  Carolina  came 
forth  to  proclaim  the  ruin  and  destruction  which  must 
follow  in  the  South.  GENERAL  JAMES  HAMILTON,  a 
most  eloquent  man,  proclaimed  in  public  meetings  the 
ruin,  devastation,  and  foreshadowed  doom  which  at- 


Personal  Memories.  237 

tended  this  terrible  tariff,  in  South  Carolina.  Accord 
ing  to  him  the  homes  were  desolate,  the  beautiful  vil 
las  and  gardens  of  the  planters  were  going  into  ruin. 
Whether  true  or  not,  this  alarming  picture  startled 
the  imagination  of  the  people.  The  politicians  fanned 
the  flame,  and  loudly  asked,  what  is  the  remedy?  It 
was  then  that  the  genius  of  MR.  CALHOUN  formed  a 
theory  to  suit  the  case.  He  said  that  the  constitution 
was  made  by  the  states,  not  the  people.  It  was  a  corn- 
pact,  to  which  the  states  were  the  only  parties,  and 
that,  therefore,  they  were  the  only  judges  of  whether 
there  had  been  an  infraction  of  the  constitution,  and 
if  there  had  been,  so  the  STATE  could  interpose  its 
powers  and  authority  to  arrest  the  supposed  uncon 
stitutional  laws  of  tho  general  government.  This 
is  what  was  popularly  known  and  correctly  defined 
as  NULLIFICATION — a  practical  nullification  of  the  na 
tional  government.  Had  it  been  possible  to  have  car 
ried  this  theory  into  effect,  there  would  be  no  national 
government  at  this  time.  The  most  singular  idea  of 
Calhoun,  and  it  is  still  stranger  that  it  prevailed  in 
the  beginning  of  secession,  was  that  this  proceeding, 
by  which  the  authority  of  the  national  government 
was  to  be  overthrown,  would  be  a  peaceable  measure ! 
How  could  it  be  peaceable,  if  there  were  any  people, 
even  a  minority,  who  were  willing  and  able  to  support 
their  government?  It  is  probable  that  this  very  idea 
of  a  peaceful  nullification,  or  secession,  had  great  in 
fluence  in  favoring  secession  until  the  war  actually 
came  on.  But  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  in  1828- 
1832,  when  there  was  great  excitement  on  the  subject, 
did  not  quite  believe  the  doctrine  of  peace  when  re 
bellion  was  attempted.  So,  when  they  found  the  gov- 


238  Personal  Memories. 

eminent  would  collect  its  revenue,  through  its  officers, 
unless  some  resistance  was  made,  the  legislature  of 
South  Carolina  passed  an  act  to  raise  a  body  of  12,000 
volunteers,  armed  and  equipped.  Here  came  in  a  part 
of  unwritten  history,  which  I  knew  myself,  and  al 
ways  seemed  to  me  supremely  ridiculous.  The  nulli- 
fiers  were  foaming  with  rage,  especially  against  Ameri 
can  manufactures  and  ship  owners,  who,  according  to 
their  theory,  were  defrauding  the  cotton-growers,  by 
a  tax  on  imports.  They  declared  they  would  buy  no 
American  cloths  or  goods,  but  would  go  to  England 
for  everything.  When,  however,  they  must  clothe  the 
12.000  volunteers,  they  determined  to  have  the  best. 
So  they  made  a  contract  for  blue  uniforms  and  brass 
buttons.  It  happened  that  I  was  then  traveling  in 
New  England,  and,  among  other  places,  stopped  at 
Waterbury,  Connecticut,  where  my  friend,  Mr.  Sco- 
ville,  had  then  just  began  one  of  that  series  of  facto 
ries  which  have  made  Waterbury  a  city.  It  was  a 
button  factory,  and  he  showed  me  the  works  and  the 
very  ingenious  machinery  employed.  Then,  taking 
down  some  packages  of  finished  brass  buttons,  very 
fine  of  their  kind,  he,  with  a  laugh  on  his  face,  showed 
me  the  very  buttons  which  were  to  be  used  by  the 
volunteers  of  South  Carolina.  To  me  nothing  could 
seem  more  ridiculous.  There  were  the  emblems  of 
South  Carolina,  with  its  motto — Nemo  me  impiuie  laces- 
sit — on  buttons  made  in  Connecticut,  to  uniform  the 
troops  with  which  that  little  state  was  to  defy  the  gov 
ernment,  and  boast  that  it  would  use  no  Yankee  manu 
factures  !  In  the  many  years  which  elapsed  from  nulli 
fication  to  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  many  things  of 
this  kind  occurred.  The  Southern  people  seem  to 


Personal  Memories.  239 

have  been  really  unconscious  how  largely  they  were 
dependent  on  others,  not  indeed  for  the  bare  necessa 
ries  of  life,  but  for  nearly  all  that  made  life  com 
fortable. 

The  debate,  the  excitement,  the  threatening*,  and 
the  fears  on  the  subject  of  nullification  continued 
three  years — indeed  through  all  the  first  administra 
tion  of  Jackson.  In  the  meanwhile  there  were  several 
memorable  occurrences. 

I  have  mentioned  the  picture  of  desolation  in  South 
Carolina  (attributed  to  tariff)  drawn  by  Major  James 
Hamilton,  who  had  been  a  member  of  congress.  It 
was  really  eloquent  and  beautiful,  but  terminated  with 
the  idea  which  afterward  culminated  in  secession  and 
rebellion.  Speaking  at  Walterborough,  South  Caro 
lina,  he  said  : 

"Where  are  now  those  beautiful  homesteads  and 
venerable  chateaus  which  once  adorned  the  land  of  our 
fathers,  the  abodes  of  hospitality  and  wealth,  from 
which  the  most  generous  benefactions  were  dispensed 
to  contented  labor — by  which  slavery  itself  lost  half 
the  burden  of  its  chains,  in  the  kindness  with  which 
they  were  imposed?  Gone;  fallen  into  irreversible 
decay.  On  the  very  hearthstone  where  hospitality 
kindled  the  most  genial  fires  that  ever  blazed  on  her 
altars,  the  fox  may  lay  down  in  security  and  peace; 
and  from  the  casement  of  the  very  window  from  which 
the  notes  of  virtuous  revelry  were  once  heard,  the  owl 
sends  forth  to  the  listening  solitude  of  the  surround 
ing  waste  her  melancholy  descant,  to  mark  the  spot 
where  desolation  has  come." 

Was  this  picture  true,  or  was  it  only  fiction?  I 
suspect  the  orator,  like  the  Fourth  of  July  orator,  had 


240  Personal  Memories. 

something  to  go  on,  but  colored  it  with  the  visions  of 
fancy. 

Such  were  the  strains  by  which  South  Carolina  was 
called  to  believe  herself  deeply  injured,  her  feelings 
outraged,  and  her  rights  violated.  "  But  how,"  says 
the  orator,  "  are  we  to  interfere  for  the  purpose  of  ar 
resting  the  progress  of  the  evil  ?"  To  this  he  replies  : 
"  A  nullification,  then,  of  the  unauthorized  act  is  the 
rightful  remedy." 

This  doctrine  was  professedly  founded  on  the  Vir 
ginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798,  and  it  was 
defended  as  a  peaceful  measure.  Those  resolutions 
of  1798  were  generally  embodied  in  the  proceedings 
of  Democratic  conventions,  from  1828  to  1840.  They 
were  a  part  of  the  regular  stock-in-trade  of  the  party. 
How  they  came  to  be  so,  since  they  were  never 
adopted  but  by  two  states,  is  a  political  enigma.  The 
truth  is,  however,  that  all  the  original  leaders  of  the 
Republican,*  as  it  was  first  called,  and  afterward  the 
Democratic,  party,  were  Anti-Constitutionalists  ;  op 
posed  to  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  fearing  that 
it  might  lead  to  the  foundation  of  a  national  or  su 
preme  government,  in  opposition  to  the  rights  of  the 
states.  There  is  no  doubt  the  founders  of  the  consti 
tution  intended  it  to  be  a  national  government ;  and 
no  doubt  it  has  become  so  in  fact.  But  to  this  the 
Anti-Federalists  were  opposed,  and  so,  for  half  a  cen 
tury,  they  continued  to  indoctrinate  the  Democratic 
party  with  them,  and  to  infuse  them,  as  far  as  possible, 
into  the  Democratic  conventions.  In  the  meanwhile, 
however,  there  was  a  counteracting  force,  which  ulti- 

®  See  Proceedings  of  Democratic  Caucuses  in  1808,  1812,  1816, 
and  1824. 


Personal  Memories.  241 

mately  proved  politically  omnipotent.  This  was  no 
thing  more  or  less  than  the  patriotic  feeling  of  the  people. 
Men  profess  to  be  governed  by  reason ;  in  fact,  they  are 
governed  by  feeling  and  interest.  This  feeling  of 
nationality  grew  up  at  first  under  the  insults  and  in 
juries  of  European  powers.  France  brushed  with  us 
in  1798;  the  British  fired  upon  the  Chesapeake  in 
1809  ;  Napoleon  confiscated  our  ships  in  the  port  of 
Antwerp,  under  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees;  the 
British  seized  our  ships,  under  orders  in  council — they 
impressed  our  seamen  in  our  own  ships,  with  a  sub 
lime  indifference  to  our  rights  and  feelings,  which  in 
these  days  would  seem  incredible  and  impossible. 
The  war  of  1812-1815  began  with  the  celebrated 
motto,  "  Free  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights/'  and  ended 
with  that  famous  battle  of  New  Orleans,  which  Coun 
selor  Sampson,  not  inaptly,  called  "the  death-bed  of 
British  glory."  It  was  certainly  the  death-bed  of 
British  pretension  toward  us.  In  the  meanwhile, 
English  travelers,  reviewers,  and  writers  were  abusing 
and  sneering  at  the  American  people.  Some  time 
after  this,  Robert  Walsh  wrote  his  "  Appeal."  At 
this  time  it  is  difficult  for  an  American  to  realize  this 
state  of  things,  and  the  opposition  and  contumely, 
and  even  humiliation,  under  which  this  country  grew 
up  into  a  real  and  solid  nationality.  It  was  in  this 
way  nationality  was  cultivated,  and  the  people  began 
to  feel  there  was  a  nationality,  long  before  the  gentle 
men  who  were  asserting  state  rights  realized  that 
fact.  Against  such  a  feeling  all  the  arguments  and 
casuistry  of  political  philosophers  arc  in  vain.  The 
resolutions  of  1798  are  no  longer  heard  of.  The  war 
of  the  Rebellion  buried  them.  Thirty-eight  states  and 


242  Personal  Memories. 

fifty  millions  of  people  can  not  be  controlled  by  an 
abstract  philosophy,  or  paper  resolutions.  The  gov 
ernment  is,  and  must  henceforth  remain,  what  the 
practical  necessities  of  the  country  make  it. 

But  let  us  return  to  nullification.  At  the  same 
time  that  Hamilton  was  rousing  South  Carolina  with 
fiery  speeches^  public  meetings,  both  in  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  were  passing  contra- resolutions  against  the 
supposed  offenders.  Kentucky  and  Ohio  were  strong 
tariff  states,  under  the  lead  of  Henry  Clay.  In. 
Laurens  and  Edgefield  counties,  South  Carolina,  and 
in  Baldwin  and  Montgomery  counties,  Georgia,  it  was 
resolved  not  to  consume  or  buy  the  hogs,  cattle,  mules, 
bacon,  etc.,  of  the  Western  States.*  When  the  legis 
lature  of  South  Carolina  met,  in  December,  this  feel 
ing  was  strongly  developed.  PRESTON,  THOMPSON, 
HOLMES,  and  other  members  offered. resolutions,  the 
substance  of  which  was  that  the  tariff  acts  were  pal 
pable  and  dangerous  infractions  of  the  constitution, 
and  that  the  state  had  a  right  to  interpose  and  arrest 
them.  How  a  tariff  act,  which  is  passed  under  the 
most  direct  and  explicit  power  conferred  by  the  con 
st  itutionf  on  congress,  can  possibly  be  an  infraction 
of  the  constitution  was  not  explained  then,  and  has 
never  been  explained  since.  Among  the  proceedings 
of  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina  was  an  act  re 
quiring  citizens  of  South  Carolina  to  take  a  test  oath 
of  exclusive  allegiance  to  the  state.J  This  test  oath 
was  the  very  essence  of  rebellion,  although  en 
acted  thirty-two  years  before  actual  rebellion  begun. 

*  See  Niles'  Register,  63. 

f  Constitution,  article  1,  section  8. 

%  South  Carolina  Ordinance,  November,  1832. 


Personal  Memories.  243 

The  Court  of  Appeals  in  South  Carolina,  to  their 
honor  be  it  said,  with  great  personal  disinterestedness 
and  moral  independence  declared  the  ordinance  of  the 
state  on  this  point  unconstitutional.* 

In  the  meantime,  JAMES  MADISOX,  ex-president  of 
the  United  States,  had  written  two  letters,  published 
by  a  friend,  declaring  the  tariff  constitutional.  These 
had  a  sedative  effect,  and  the  public  mind  was  soon 
after  turned  to  another  subject.  Practical  nullifica 
tion  was  not  attempted  until  four  years  after.  Let 
us,  however,  follow  it  to  the  end. 

In    May,  1882,  congress    again    revised   the   tariff, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  duties,  but  that  of 
rernodifying  them  and  rendering  them  more  agreea 
ble  to  the  Southern  States.     That  this  was  a  fact  was 
declared  by  COL.  DRAYTOX  in  an  address  to  the  people 
of    South  Carolina   exhorting   them    to    sustain    the 
Union. f     The  very  fact  that   such   exhortation  was 
made,  and  that  nullification  of  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  was  considered  a  just  and  constitutional  rem 
edy  for  supposed  evils  is  positive  proof  that  the  seeds 
of  the  Rebellion  of  18G1  were  sown  and  alive  twenty- 
eight  years  before.     The  modification  of  the   tariff 
proved  unsatisfactory.     The  excitement  was  again  re 
newed.  The  imaginations  of  the  people  were  inflamed 
with  the  idea  that  they  were  imposed  upon  by  the  ma 
jority  in  the  Union.    Inflammatory  toasts  were  drunk, 
and   the   most  distinguished    public   men    supported 
measures,  the  sole  object  of  which  was  to  resist  the 
laws  of  the  Union. 

MR.  Jonx  C.  CALIIOU^,  in  a  letter,  dated  "Fort  Hill, 

*  Decisions  of  South  Carolina  Court  of  Appeals, 
f  45  Niles;  Register. 


244  Personal  Memories. 

30th  of  July,  1832,"  declared  that  nullification  was  a 
peaceful  remedy,  and  necessary  to  the  preservation  of 
others.*  He  said,  that  he  had  entire  confidence  that 
the  time  would  come  when  this  principle  would  be  re 
garded  as  "the  great  conservative  principle  of  our 
admirable  system  of  government,"  and  those  who 
maintain  it  among  "  the  great  benefactors  of  the 
country."  If  Mr.  Calhoun  believed  this,  the  history 
of  the  next  thirty  years  proves  him  to  have  been 
among  the  most  deluded  and  mistaken  of  men.  It 
is  true,  that  a  casuist  may  say,  that  nullification  and 
secession  were  not  the  same.  But  they  both  had  the 
same  root.  If  a  state  nullified  or  resisted  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  then  the  revenue  could  not  be  col 
lected  without  force  ;  and,  if  a  state  seceded,  then  the 
revenue  could  not  be  collected  without  force.  It  came 
practically,  and,  in  the  view  of  common  sense,  to  the 
same  thing.  It  was  resistance  to  the  supreme  laws  of 
the  Union,  which  could  only  end  in  a  final  conflict. 
The  doctrines  of  Calhoun,  McDufiie,  Major  Hamilton, 
and  others  were  not  destined,  however,  to  be  accepted 
even  in  the  South,  without  a  stern  opposition.  JUDGE 
SMITH,  who  had  been  United  States  Senator,  in  an  ad 
dress  to  the  people  of  Spartanburg  (S.  C.),thus  wrote: 
"  To  say  that  you  can  resist  the  general  government 
and  remain  in  the  Union  at  peace  is  a  perfect  delusion, 
calculated  only  to  hoodwink  an  honest  community, 
until  they  shall  have  advanced  too  far  to  retrace  their 
steps,  which  they  must  do,  and  do  with  disgrace  and 
humiliation,  or  enter  upon  a  bloody  conflict  with  the 
general  government.  The  general  government  can 

*  43  Niles'  Register,  56. 


Personal  Memories.  245 

not  bow  its  sovereignty  to  the  mandates  of  South 
Carolina  while  the  Union  is  worth  preserving."*  Was 
there  ever  prophecy  more  perfectly  fulfilled?  The 
delusion  continued,  the  people  of  the  South  were 
hoodwinked,  the  government  was  resisted,  the  bloody 
conflict  came  on,  and  the  South  ended  it  in  disgrace 
and  humiliation.  But  all  this  did  not  happen  just 
then.  The  usual  debates,  controversies,  and  compro 
mises  took  place  through  nearly  thirty  years,  in  which 
nothing  was  settled,  and  nothing  could  be  settled 
while  it  was  considered  debatable  whether  the  national 
government  was  supreme. 

This  was  the  state  of  things,  when  in  October,  1832, 
the  legislature  of  South  Carolina  passed  an  act  "call 
ing  a  convention  of  the  people  "  of  the  state.  The 
convention  elected  under  this  act  assembled  at  Col 
umbia,  the  19th  of  November,  1832,  and  there  passed 
an  act  for  nullifying!  certain  acts  of  Congress,  called  the 
tariff  acts.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  more  of  the  ordi 
nance,  than  that  it  pronounced  the  tariff  acts  of  1828 
and  1832,  u  null  and  void,"  and  not  binding  upon  the 
state,  its  officers,  or  citizens;  that  it  was  unlawful  for 
any  constituted  authorities  to  enforce  payment  of  said 
duties  ;  that  if  the  general  government  should  em 
ploy  force  to  carry  into  effect  its  laws,  or  attempt  to 
coerce  the  state  by  shutting  up  its  ports,  that  South 
Carolina  would  consider  THE  UNION  DISSOLVED.  This 
was  a  frank,  open  resistance  to  the  laws  of  the  Union. 
But  it  met  with  no  help  or  great  sympathy  from 
the  other  anti-tariff  states.  Governor  Gayle,  of  Ala 
bama,  condemned  nullification.  The  legislature  of 

*43  N lies'  Register,  219. 
f43  N  lies'  Register,  219. 


246  Personal  Memories. 

Tennessee  passed  resolutions  unanimously  condemning 
it.  The  legislature  of  Georgia,  a  strong  anti-tariff 
state,  also  condemned  it.  Nevertheless,  South  Caro 
lina  persevered ;  called  out  a  great  number  of  volun 
teers,  and  the  whole  state  was  a  great  camp,  filled  with 
fire  and  fury. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when,  on  the  10th  of 
December,  1832,  General  Jackson  issued  his  now  fa 
mous  PROCLAMATION,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  im 
portant  documents  in  our  history.  Its  composition 
was  attributed,  and,  no  doubt  correctly,  to  EDWARD 
LIVINGSTONE,  then  secretary  of  state.  The  sentiments 
were,  doubtless,  those  of  Jackson.  It  was  filled  with  that 
LOVE  of  UNION  which,  in  all  times  and  circumstances, 
has  been  a  leading  element  of  the  American  char 
acter,  and  it  was  received  almost  universally  with  ap 
proval  and  applause.  One  paragraph  only  is  necessa;  y 
to  show  the  constitutional  ground  taken  : 

"I  consider  then,"  says  the  President,  "the  power 
to  annul  a  law  of  the  United  States,  assumed  by  one 
state,  incompatible  with  the  existence  of  the  Union ; 
contradicted  expressly  by  the  letter  of  the  constitu 
tion;  unauthorized  by  its  spirit;  inconsistent  with 
every  principle  on  which  it  was  founded,  and  de 
structive  of  the  great  object  for  which  it  was  formed. 

"No  act  of  violent  opposition  to  the  laws  has  yet 
been  committed,  but  such  a  state  of  things  is  hourly 
apprehended,  and  it  is  the  intent  of  this  instrument  to 
PROCLAIM,  not  only  the  duty  imposed  on  me  by  the 
constitution,  'to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully 
executed,'  shall  be  performed  to  the  extent  of  the 
powers  already  vested  in  me  by  law,  or  such  other  as 
the  wisdom  of  congress  shall  devise  and  intrust  to  me 


Personal  Memories.  247 

for  that  purpose;  but,  to  warn  the  citizens  of  South 
Carolina,  who  have  been  deluded  into  an  opposition 
to  the  laws,  of  the  danger  they  will  incur  by  obedience 
to  the  illegal  and  disorganizing  ordinance  of  the  con 
vention." 

This  proclamation  had  a  most  extraordinary  effect 
on  the  public  mind.  That  which  was  wanting  in  18GO 
was  present  in  1882 — the  manifest  determination  of 
the  government  to  put  forth  all  its  power  to  suppress 
insurrection  and  punish  traitors.  JACKSOX  \vas  a  man 
of  iron  will,  of  keen  inlellect,  and  burning  patriotism, 
whom  no  sophistries  t^ould  deceive  and  no  demagogues 
could  intimidate.  The  heart  of  the  nation  responded 
to  him.  Happily  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  was  put 
off  for  thirty  years,  when  it  could  be  more  decisive, 
and  vindicate  the  justice  of  Providence  more  clearly 
to  the  intelligence  of  mankind. 

In  connection  with  this  proclamation  must  be  taken 
another  document,  not  less  striking  or  effective.  This 
was  the  speech  of  DANIEL  WEBSTER,  delivered  iii  the 
senate,  January,  1830,  on  the  doctrine  of  nullification. 

In  the  discussion  on  Foote's  resolutions,  COLOXEL 
HAYNE,  of  South  Carolina,  advanced  the  whole 
doctrine  of  nullification,  as  created  (I  mav  say) 
by  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  held  by  South  Caro 
lina.  The  reply  of  Daniel  Webster,  on  the  26th 
and  27th  of  January,  1830,  was  the  most  celebrated 
speech  ever  delivered  in  congress,  and  more  than  equal 
to  the  great  speeches  of  Chatham  and  Burke.  Of 
course  the  subject  of  constitutional  law  and  political 
theories  did  not  admit  the  fiery  eloquence  of  Chatham 
or  the  splendid  diction  of  Burke,  but  it  was  far  supe 
rior  to  them  in  the  closeness  of  logic,  the  dignity  of 


248  Personal  Memories. 

the  subject,  and  the  imposing  strength  with  which  he 
carried  a  nation  with  him.  The  precise  meaning  and 
power  of  that  speech  was  not  so  apparent  then,  even 
with  all  its  popular  success,  as  it  was  in  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion.  The  young  men  who  were  then  coming 
upon  the  stage  of  action,  got  their  iuea  of  constitu 
tional  law  from  Webster,  and  they  were  just  of  the 
age  to  become  the  actors  and  leaders  when  secession 
began.  The  attempt  at  nullification  and  the  argument 
of  Webster,  kindled  thousands  of  minds  into  the  ar 
dor  of  patriotism  and  the  study  of  constitutional  law. 
I  was  one  of  them,  and  my  little  work,  the  "Political 
Grammar,'7*  published  in  1834,  was  one  of  the  conse 
quences.  It  was  one  of  the  few  things  which  have 
satisfied  me  that  I  had  not  lived  wholly  in  vain. 

When  Webster's  speech  was  delivered,  I  was  cross 
ing  the  mountains  (as  the  phrase  then  was),  on  the 
death  of  my  father  at  New  Haven  (Conn.),  and  I  re 
ceived  the  speech  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  I  think, 
at  Somerset  (Perm.),  and  I  was  completely  startled 
and  surprised.  It  seemed  to  me  to  embody  all  that 
grand  idea  of  the  American  Republic,  with  its  glory 
and  strength  surviving,  as  I  believed,  and  do  believe 
it  will  do  until  the  sunset  of  history;  giving  to  the 
nations  light,  freedom,  and  righteousness.  No  speech 
before  or  since,  has  produced  such  an  effect  on  me.  I 
asked 'my  friend,  JUDGE  BURNET,  then,  senator  from 
Ohio,  how  it  was  delivered  and  with  what  effect  on 
the  senate  ;  for,  when  I  heard  Webster  he  was  rather 
a  cold  speaker.  Judge  Burnet  said,  it  was  delivered 
with  a  warmth  and  energy  worthy  of  the  subject,  and 

*  Published  by  the  Harpers,  in  1834,  and  still  in  circulation. 


Personal  Memories.  249 


the  effect  was  most  striking.  Sach  a  speech  had  al 
ready  prepared  the  public  mind  for  the  proclamation 
of  1832.  Both  have  gone  to  the  world  and  remain 
to-day  among  the  greater  documents  in  political  his 
tory  ;  and  of  them,  their  authors  might  have  said  with 
Horace  and  with  Tacitus,  that  they  would  survive  to 
other  ages,  when  brass  and  stone  had  decayed. 

Here  let  me  remark  on  the  decline  of  American 
oratory.  At  least,  that  decline  seems  very  evident 
to  me,  and  the  causes  equally  evident.  We  hear  to 
day  of  immense  audiences  gathered  to  hear  Moody 
and  Beecher,  John  Hall,  and  many  others  ;  but  tak 
ing  the  evidence  of  what  they  said,  and  how  they  ap 
pear  in  print,  would  any  one  compare  them  with 
Dvvight,  and  Mason,  and  !N"ott  ?  The  actors,  it  is  said, 
went  to  hear  Dr.  Mason  preach  in  order  to  learn  his 
gestures.  The  sermon  of  Dr.  Nott  on  the  death  of 
Hamilton  has  never  been  equaled  by  any  of  the 
Beechers,  Halls,  or  McCloskys  of  the  day,  and  I  could 
pick  out  twenty  of  Dwiglit's  sermons  which  are  not 
equaled  by  any  of  the  popular  preachers  of  the  pres 
ent  time.  We  need. not  cite  Whitfield,  for  he  was  a 
prodigy.  It  is  exactly  the  same  thing,  with  political 
oratory.  What  man  in  public  life  of  any  sort  equals 
Webster  or  Clay?  You  will  say  Corwin,  but  Corwin 
is  not  of  this  generation.  He  is  dead.  Besides  he 
never  did  rise  to  the  level  of  Webster  and  Clay.  But 
justice  to  him  requires  me  to  say  that  his  oratory  was 
peculiar;  it  was  his  own;  not  borrowed  from  either 
ancient  or  modern  school.  It  is  beyond  all  doubt  or 
question  that  we  have  no  orators  of  this  day  equal  to 
those  of  the  last  generation.  But  the  question  arises, 
why?  This  is  a  boasting  generation;  why  should 


250  Personal  Memories. 

there  not  be  orators  as  well  as  machinists,  telegraphs, 
or  railroads  ?  The  answer  is  very  simple  and  the  rea 
son  plain,  though  not  a  sufficient  one  to  account  for  a 
lack  of  ambition  on  the  part  of  men  to  win  the  fame 
of  an  orator. 

The  reason  is  this,  that  a  public  speaker  now  is  not 
ambitious  of  fame  from  posterity,  but  how  he  shall 
appear  before  his  present  and-  temporary  audience. 
The  facts  and  the  reasoning  are  made  plain  to  the 
voters,  but  the  oratory  is  wanting.  He  is  talking  for 
the  newspapers.  It  may  not  be  a  mistake,  but  it  is  a 
fact.  The  newspaper  has  killed  the  great  orator.  How 
killed  him  ?  Because,  he  is  anxious  to  appear  in  the 
newspaper  and  be  popular  before  the  people,  and  what 
is  required  to  make  a  man  popular  in  the  newspaper 
is  a  very  different  thing  from  what  is  required  for  a 
great  orator.  What  do  the  ordinary  readers  of  news 
papers  care  for  classic  language,  splendid  figures,  pro 
found  learning,  or  deep  sentiment  ?  Nothing.  Hence, 
the  pulpit  orator  and  the  political  orator,  perceiving 
this,  fall,  at  once,  into  that  colloquialism  which  is  the 
ruin  of  all  oratory,  of  all  eloquence,  and  of  all  future 
fame.  But  worse  than  this,  when  he  who  should  have 
been  the  great  orator  of  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  or  the 
senate  comes  into  the  newspapers,  he  is  beaten  by  the 
newspaper  writer.  He  thinks  he  is  telling  the  world 
a  good  deal  in  most  splendid  language,  but  finds  that 
the  newspaper  writer  is  ahead  of  him.  The  public  writer 
of  the  newspaper  is  a  well-informed  man,  who  knows 
the  people  well,  and  who  knows  how  to  speak  to  the 
people  in  old  English — the  Anglo-Saxon  tongue.  Now, 
what  is  the  result  ?  The  orator  of  the  pulpit  and  the  sen 
ate,  after  sacrificing  all  true  oratory,  the  classical  and 


Personal  Memories.  251 

the  poetic,  the  fervent  and  the  grand,  for  the  sake  of 
newspaper  notoriety,  finds  that  it  is  not  he,  but  his 
newspaper  friend,  who  appears  before  the  public  as  the 
great  man  of  the  occasion  !  But  let  us  return  to  the 
I  thread  of  history.  The  speech  of  Webster  and  the 
proclamation  of  Jackson  silenced  the  conspirators. 
South  Carolina  was  a  camp,  and  the  beautiful  uniform 
of  the  volunteers  shone  with  the  buttons  made  by  Mr. 
Scoville,  at  Waterbury,  Connecticut.  In  this  condition 
of  affairs,  congress  passed  what  was  called  the  "  force 
bill,"  the  meaning  and  object  of  which  was  to  enforce 
the  collection  of  and  the  execution  of  the  laws  in  any 
state  or  states  attempting  to  nullify  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  At  this  time  of  great  emergency,  to 
save  the  milliners,  if  possible,  from  the  effects  of  their 
wild  and  insane  proceedings,  Mr.  Clay  proposed  his 
compromise  bill — a  compromise  which  caused  the  loss 
of  fortunes  to  thousands  of  persons,  and  which  ulti 
mately  threw  the  country  into  the  worst  commercial 
convulsion  it  has  ever  known,  and  did  not  abate  one 
whit  the  causes  of  that  political  antagonism  which 
existed  and  must  exist  between  slavery  and  freedom, 
and  which  at  last  Providence  settled  by  the  war  of  se 
cession.  Mr.  Clay  was  not  at  that  time  011  speaking 
terms  with  Mr.  Calhoun,  but  his  friends  proposed  the 
plan  to  the  latter,  and  it  was  accepted.  The  plan  was 
that  the  tariff  should  be  reduced  a  certain  per  cent, 
each  year  until  it  fell  to  twenty  per  cent.  This  com 
promise  was  adopted.  South  Carolina  suspended  her 
aggressive  operations,  and  the  country  returned  to  an 
apparent  peace — apparent  only.  How  delusive,  how 
uncertain,  and  how  utterly  inefficient,  we  shall  see 
when  we  examine  the  subsequent  debates  on  the  right 


252  Personal  Memories. 

of  petition,  the  after  compromise  of  1850,  and  the  se 
cession  war  of  1861.  Why  were  the  people  of  that 
day  so  deluded  ?  In  fact,  they  were  not.  The  real 
statesmen  of  that  day  knew  well  that  the  political  vol 
cano  might  hurst  forth  at  any  moment. 

In  another  chapter*  I  have  noticed  the  Missouri  ques 
tion,  the  compromise  of  1820.  From  that  time  on  for 
forty  years,  statesmen  of  all  parties  were  engaged  in 
constant,  cautious,  fearful  attempts  to  compromise  the 
great  crime  of  the  country.  They  were  trying  to  use 
the  language  of  an  exorcist,  "  to  lay  the  ghost ! "  But 
the  ghost  was  impracticable.  There  was  no  human 
power  capable  of  laying  it. 

The  more  the  southern  slave  states  grew  in  numbers, 
in  cotton  products,  in  wealth  and  political  influence,  the 
more  they  felt  the  necessity — an  honest  necessity — of 
protecting  slavery  and  extending  its  domain ;  the  more 
grew  the  necessity  of  the  non-slave  states,  the  more 
the  church  was  excited  to  inquire  into  it,  and  the  more 
northern  demagogues  found  a  fruitful  field  in  which  to 
play  upon  the  passions  and  the  prejudices  of  the 
people. 

The  conflict  was  inevitable.  We  see  it  now ;  but 
thinking  people  saw  it  long  years  before  it  came  to 
pass.  In  1828,  however,  the  disease  was  not  called  by 
its  right  name.  As  we  have  seen,  they  called  it  the 
wrong  of  the  tariff;  but  behind  the  tariff  lay  cotton, 
and  behind  cotton  lay  slavery.  We  shall  see  later  how 
it  at  last  took  its  proper  name.  I  have  here  traced 
one  chapter  in  the  history  of  political  slavery,  and  have 
done  it  not  so  much  for  the  curious  interest  of  the 
reader  as  to  put  on  record  what  I  know  to  be — brief 

*  Chapter  VI. 


Personal  Memories.  253 

as  it  is — an  accurate  view  of  one  of  the  most  interest 
ing  periods  of  the  social  progress  and  political  revolu 
tions  through  which  our  country  passed.  The  time 
was  four  years,  but  it  was  a  complete  microcosm  of 
what  followed  in  the  war  of  secession. 

I  may  remark  here  that  I  know  of  no  more  signal 
example  of  the  interposition,  wisdom,  and  mercy  of 
the  divine  Providence  than  that  by  which  the  rebellion 
was  averted  in  1832,  and  by  which  it  was  brought  on 
and  conquered  in  1861.  If  there  had  been  actual  re 
bellion  in  1832,  it  would  have  been  called  a  tariff  war. 
South  Carolina,  or  any  state  which  joined  her,  would 
have  been  easily  conquered,  but  slavery  would  have 
remained  untouched,  and  the  South  would  still  have 
believed  itself  the  dominant  power.  Thirty  years  aft 
erward,  however,  the  real  cause  was  slavery,  and  the 
whole  power  of  the  South  was  arrayed  in  its  defense, 
and  slavery  and  secession  were  both  destroyed.  God 
justified  His  ways  to  men.  The  great  republic,  after 
one  hundred  years  of  struggle,  stands  literally  regen 
erated  and  disenthralled.  Storms  and  darkness  have 
fled  from  her  horizon,  and  nothing  but  the  wrath  of 
God  upon  disobedience  can  ever  again  cross  her  splen 
did  career. 


254  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Cholera — Its  Advent,  Progress,  and  Mortality — Dr. 
Drake's  Literary  Parties — General  King — Mrs.  King 
(Mrs.  Peters) — Catharine  Beecher — Harriet  Beecher 
(Mrs.  Siowe) — Professor  .Stowe — Judge  Hall — Mrs. 
Caroline  Hentze — College  of  Teachers — Albert  Pickett 
—Joshua  Wilson — Alexander  Kinmont — James  Per 
kins — Dr.  Beecher— Alexander  Campbell — Thomas  L. 
Grimke. 

IN  1832  the  Asiatic  cholera  visited  the  United  States. 
No  great  epidemic  or  general  disease  has  before  or 
since  prevailed  in  North  America.  The  yellow  fever 
had  appeared  locally  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
Charleston.  In  1699*  the  yellow  fever  appeared  in 
Philadelphia,  and  swept  off  a  great  number  of  people. 
In  1728  it  broke  out  in  Charleston,  and  swept  off  many 
inhabitants.  The  planters  would  suffer  no  persons  to 
carry  supplies  into  the  town,  and  the  numbers  of  the 
sick  were  so  great  that  white  persons  were  scarcely  to 
be  found  sufficient  to  bury  the  dead.  The  yellow  fever 
again  appeared  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in 
1793,  1797,  1798,  and  1823.  These  visitations  were, 
however,  local,  and  did  not  extend  to  other  places. 
In  1832  the  Asiatic  cholerar  became-  ge»eml  through 
out  the  United  States,  and  for  this  reason,  and  because 
I  was  present  where  it  prevailed  in  every  season,  it 
may  be  interesting  to  give  some  of  the  leading  facts 

*  Holmes'  Annals. 


Personal  Memories.  255 


of  those  times.  The  cholera  arrived  at  Quebec  in  an 
emigrant  ship,  and  immediately  proceeded  by  the 
Champlain  canal  and  Hudson  river  to  New  York  city. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence,  en 
tered  the  basin  of  the  lakes,  and  swept  around  the 
upper  Mississippi,  whence  it  entered  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio.  From  Buffalo  it  was  carried  by  Scott's  troops, 
then  on  their  way  to  engage  in  the  'Black  Hawk  war, 
to  other  places.  Among  these  troops,  it  broke  out  011 
the  bosom  of  the  lakes,  and,  by  the  time  they  reached 
Chicago,  they  had  already  been  decimated  by  death, 
and  a  large  number  of  those  left  were  immediately 
consigned  to  hospitals.  General  Scott,  his  staff,  and 
about  two  hundred  and  twenty  men,  embarked  in  the 
steamboat  Sheldon  Thompson,  in  which,  on  the  8th 
of  July,  the  cholera  broke  out.  The  boat  arrived  on 
the  10th  inst.  at  Chicago.  In  these  two  or  three  days, 
out  of  two  hundred  men,  one  officer  and  fifty-one  men 
died,  and  eighty  were  left  sick  at  Chicago.  The  fate 
of  those  in  the- other  boats  was  even  worse  than  that 
of  those  on  the  Sheldon.  On  landing  the  troops,  many 
of  the  soldiers  deserted,  and  their  fate  was  terrible. 
Mr.  Norvell,  of  Detroit,  wrote  to  the  Philadelphia 
Enquirer:  "Of  the  deserters  scattered  all  over  the 
country,  some  have  died  in  the  woods,  and  others  have 
been  devoured  by  the  wolves.  Their  straggling  sur 
vivors  are  occasionally  seen  marching,  some  of  them 
know  not  whither,  with  their  knapsacks  on  their 
backs,  shunned  by  the  terrified  inhabitants  as  the 
source  of  mortal  pestilence."  Such  were  the  scenes 
and  horrors  which  attended  the  cholera  in  its  first 
progress  through  the  northwest.  At  its  first  appear 
ance  from  Quebec  to  New  York,  I  was  at  West  Point, 


256  Personal  Memories. 

•on  the  Hudson.  From  Albany  to  New  York,  in  the 
small  villages,  and  especially  at  West  Point,  it  ap 
peared  only  in  the  premonitory  symptoms,  and  was  not 
violent ;  but  in  the  city  of  New  York  it  was  violent 
and  fatal.  The  newspapers  published  the  cases  and 
deaths  daily,  and  they  were  looked  for  and  read  with 
the  deepest  interest.  In  New  York,  as  in  nearly  all 
cities  and  towns,  the  disease  appeared  in  low  places 
and  in  neighborhoods  where  filth  prevailed.  The  same 
fact  was  noted  in  the  city  of  London,  and  a  parlia 
mentary  inquiry  showed  that  it  appeared  in  the  same 
localities  with  the  typhoid  fever.  These  localities  were 
where  there  were  filthy  sewers,  cess-pools,  and  drains ; 
but  it  is  remarkable  that  neither  in  London  nor  in  New 
York  was  this  pestilence  as  fatal  in  proportion  to  their 
inhabitants  as  in  many  smaller  places.  Ii  was  also 
noted  that  no  appearance  of  anything  unusual  in  the 
weather  or  atmosphere  was  apparent.  In  the  month 
of  June,  when  the  cholera  descended  the  Hudson,  the 
weather  was  most  beautiful,  the  temperature  mild,  and 
the  air  calm.  "While  this  pestilence  was  terrifying  hu 
manity,  nature  remained  the  same. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1832,  when  the  cholera 
had  apparently  left  New  York,  I  determined,  after 
nearly  four  years'  of  absence,  to  return  to  Cincinnati, 
and  resume  my  profession.  We  returned  by  way  of 
Buffalo  and  Erie  to  Pittsburg.  At  Erie,  Pennsylvania, 
we  took  the  stage  to  Pittsburg,  and  at  Pittsburg  took 
a  steamboat  down  the  Ohio.  When  we  arrived  at 
Pittsburg,  we  were  surprised  to  find  that  the  Ohio 
river  was  covered  with  the  cholera,  almost  every 
steamboat  having  it  on  board.  It  had  arrived  at  Cin 
cinnati  about  the  20th  of  September,  but  we  had  sup- 


Personal  Memories.  257 

posed  that  by  this  time  (October)  it  had  abated,  ancl 
we  took  a  steamboat  for  Cincinnati.  At  Wheeling 
we  found  boats  with  the  cholera  on  board,  but  deter 
mined  to  go  on.  On  the  way  down,  my  wife  had  a 
slight  attack  of  cholera,  but  soon  recovered.  At  Ma 
rietta  island,  a  singular  incident  occurred.  We  reached 
there  about  dark,  and  the  captain  dropped  anchor,  in 
tending  to  remain  for  the  night.  Just  then  a  steam 
boat  came  up  the  river,  and  stopped  at  the  island  near 
our  boat.  On  asking  for  the  news,  the  captain  said 
they  had  four  or  five  cases  of  cholera  on  board,  and 
were  about  to  bury  one  of  their  dead  on  the  island. 
This  at  once  gave  the  alarm.  Captain,  crew,  and  pas 
sengers  of  our  boat  were  all  excited  ;  ladies  were  using 
camphor  bottles  ;  and  the  captain  and  crew  appeared 
the  most  alarmed.  The  anchor  was  immediately  lifted, 
steam  started,  and  we  went  down  the  river.  The  fright 
soon  subsided,  and  the  next  morning  the  sun  rose 
bright  and  beautiful  on  one  of  the  loveliest  of  October 
days.  Here  I  may  again  remark  that  never  was  the 
weather  brighter  or  better  than  during  the  prevalence 
of  the  cholera.  We  proceeded  on  our  journej*,  but 
many  of  the  passengers,  including  m}Tself,  decided  that 
it  was  dangerous  and  unwise  to  go  to  Cincinnati.  My 
main  motive  for  going  there  had  ceased  to  exist,  for  I 
found  by  a  letter  at  Wheeling  that  my  mother,  who 
had  been  left  almost  alone  at  Cincinnati,  had  left  there 
and  gone  to  Oxford.  I  decided,  therefore,  to  land  at 
Gallipolis,  and  go  to  Oxford.  Among  the  ladies  on 
our  boat  was  Mrs.  Jonathan  Bates,  who  still  survives, 
almost  the  only  one  of  that  period  who  can  remember 
and  relate  the  facts  I  have  here  stated.  She  is  now  past 
eighty  years  of  nge,  and  has  lived  the  nearly  half  cen- 


258  Personal  Memories. 

tury  since,  to  be  a  most  useful  and  respected  mem 
ber  of  society,  honored  in  the  church,  and  admired  by 
her  friends.  She,  myself,  and  others  proceeded  across 
the  country  by  stage  to  Chillicothe.  At  Chillicothe, 
we  took  a  carriage  to  Oxford.  At  Oxford  I  found  my 
mother,  and  remained  a  month  in  that  pleasant  vil 
lage.  Then  and  at  several  subsequent  visits,  I  became 
interested  in  Miami  University.  In  1835,  I  delivered 
a  literary  address  before  the  societies  there.  Here  I 
may  say  that  no  western  institution  of  the  same  means 
and  age  has  done  more  for  the  cause  of  education,  or 
sent  forth  more  able  and  intelligent  men,  than  Miami 
University.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  its  means  have 
been  crippled  by  the  early  lease  of  its  lands  at  a  com 
paratively  nominal  rate.  There  is  now  a  prospect  of 
its  revival,  with  increased  strength,  and  it  is  hoped 
that  it  will  yet  become  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  our 
institutions. 

Our  visit  at  Oxford  passed  pleasantly  and  speedily 
away,  and  about  the  first  of  December  we  returned  to 
Cincinnati.  A  snow  had  fallen,  the  streets  were  icy, 
and  the  gaslights  dimly  burning,  presenting  to  our 
imagination  the  ghostly  appearance  of  the  departed 
cholera.  The  city  was  then  healthy,  and  remained  so 
until  the  following  May,  when  the  cholera  again  broke 
out  among  the  Germans  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
city.  It  returned  again  in  1834,  1849,  1850,  1851, 
1852,  and  1865  (or  1866).  In  one  of  these  seasons 
(1849)  it  was  far  more  severe  than  in  1832,  and,  in  all 
times  of  its  appearing,  alarming.  That  I  may  not  re 
turn  to  this  subject,  I  will  here  give  a  summary  of 
some  of  its  causes  and  effects.  In  September,  184D, 
the  board  of  health  in  Cincinnati  returned  the  follow- 


Personal  Memories.  259 

ing  number  of  deaths  between  the  first  of  May  and 
the  first  of  September,  four  months  : 

Deaths  by  Cholera, 4,114 

"         "    other  Diseases 2,345 


Aggregate, 6,459 

If  we  add  to  this  the  number  of  deaths  in  the  last 
two  weeks  in  April,  and  from  the  first  of  September 
to  the  fifteenth  of  October,  during  which  the  number 
of  deaths  exceeded  the  average,  we  shall  have,  for 
six  months,  at  least  7,000,  of  which  4,600  were  from 
cholera.  The  mortality  of  the  other  six  months,  at 
the  average  rate,  was  only  1,500.  We  have,  then,  for 
1849,  a  total  mortality  of  8,500,  which  (the  popula 
tion  of  the  city  being  116,000),  made  a  ratio  of  one* 
in  fourteen.  If  we  examine  this  mortality  socially,  we 
shall  arrive  at  some  extraordinary  results.  The  divi 
sion  of  the  cemeteries  of  Cincinnati  by  nationalities 
and  religions,  is  so  complete,  that  we  can  easily  deter 
mine  how  many  Americans  and  how  many  foreign 
born  died  of  cholera.  Taking  the  number  given 
above,  of  those  who  died  between  the  first  of  May 
and  the  first  of  September,  we  have  this  result : 

Germans,  Irish,  and  Hebrews 2,896 

Americans,  English,  Scotch,  and  Welch, 1,218 

Total, 4,114 

The  ascertained  proportion  of  Germans,  Irish,  and 
Hebrews,  at  that  time,  was  40  per  cent,  of  the  whole 
population.  The  residue  of  the  population  (Ameri 
cans,  English,  Welsh,  etc.),  was  60  per  cent.  Now, 
making  the  comparison,  according  to  these  propor 
tions,  we  find  that : 


260  Personal  Memories. 

Died  of  Cholera  —  Germans  and  Irish,  ...............  1  in  16 

"  "  Hebrews,  ........  .....................  1  in  64 

"  Americans,  English,  etc.,.  .....  1  in  56 

the  whole  population,  ...........  1  in  29 


thus  see  that  the  deaths  among  the  German  and 
Irish  was  within  a  fraction  of  being-  fourfold  that  of 
the  Americans,  and  douhle  those  of  the  entire  popu 
lation,  in  proportion.  Investigations  like  these,  into 
the  results  of  different  modes  and  habits  of  life, 
would  contribute  something  to  the  progress  of  social 
science,  that  science  which  will  he  of  the  greatest  im 
portance  to  the  future.  The  causes  of  these  results 
are  probably  various;  hut  must,  undoubtedly,  be 
found  in  the  different  conditions  of  the  people  and 
different  modes  of  living. 

During  the  prevalence  of  this  pestilence,  a  deep 
gloom  and  solemn  fear  pervaded  the  city.  Many 
plans  and  suggestions  were  made  to  mitigate  the  dis 
ease.  The  greatest  mortality  was  in  the  hot  month 
of  July,  yet  great  fires  were  made  in  some  streets, 
with  the  idea  of  driving  off"  the  poison  ;  but  the  dis 
ease  went  on  with  its  fearful  fatality,  and  the*  "  long 
funerals  blackened  all  the  way."  At  this  time  my 
brother-in-law,  Dr.  Worthington,  died  at  our  house, 
not  of  cholera,  but  of  typhus  fever,  taken  from  expo 
sure  and  fatigue  from  attending  upon  his  patients. 
In  consequence  of  this,  and  the  deep  gloom  which 
pervaded  the  city  and  ourselves,  we  went  for  a  few 
weeks  to  Xenia.  Arrived  there,  we  found  that  the 
cholera  had  broken  out  at  about  the  same  time.  Our 
friends  were  alarmed  and  excited,  and  exposed  through 
the  same  scenes,  only  on  a  smaller  scale,  as  those 
seen  in  Cincinnati.  Thus,  we  had  passed  through 


Personal  Memories.  261 

all  the  terrors  and  afflictions  of  the  year  1849,  fatal  to 
Cincinnati.  It  was  one  of  the  saddest  and  least  profit 
able  years  of  my  life.  I  have  described  it  here,  for 
the  purpose  of  exhibiting,  briefly,  what  seems  un 
known  to  this  generation — one  of  the  greatest  calan^- ,/ 
ities  that  can  afflict  mankind. 

I  will  now  return  to  the  period  in  time  when  I  left 
my  personal  narrative.  January,  1833,  found  me  in  a 
small  law-office,  on  Fourth  street,  near  Main,  Cincin 
nati.  I  had  determined  to  resume  my  profession  at 
any  rate,  for  the  purpose  of  doing  something,  however 
little.  It  turned  out  to  be  little;  but  the  attempt  was 
most  valuable  to  me,  for  it  made  the  remainder  of  my 
life  useful  and  honorable,  if  not  remarkable.  It  was 
in  this  office  I  formed  the  idea  of  writing  "  The  Politi 
cal  Grammar"  a  practical  work  on  the  constitution, 
much  needed  by  young  men,  and  which,  for  forty 
years,  has  been  more  or  less  in  circulation.  It  is  a 
brief  compendium  of  the  commentaries/' legislation, 
and  decisions  of  the  supreme  court  in  regard  to  the 
constitution.  It  wras  adapted  to  students,  and  has  been 
studied  in  many  of  the  academies  and  institutions  of 
the  country.  It  was  really  not  published  until  two 
years  after  it  was  planned.  In  the  meanwhile,,  and 
connected  with  this  idea,  I  acquired  a  bent  toward^ 
literary  pursuits,  which  have  occupied  my  mind  and 
attention  from  that  day  to  this.  Circumstances, 
which  I  will  now  relate,  encouraged  that  taste,  and 
completed  my  transfer  from  the  life  of  a  lawyer  to 
that  of  a  public  writer.  It  was  in  that  year,  1833, 
my  friend  and  relative,  Dr.  Daniel  Drake,  instituted  a 
social  aiid  literary  reunion  at  his  house,  which,  to  those 
who  f  equented  it,  possessed  all  the  charms  of  in  for- 


262  Personal  Memories. 

mation,  wit,  and  kindness.  These  meetings  were 
really  formed  for  the  benefit  of  his  daughters,  then 
just  growing  into  womanhood.  Those  meetings  are 
indelibly  impressed  upon  my  memory,  and  though 
others  of  similar  character  have  been  made  memora 
ble  by  literary  fame,  I  am  well  persuaded  that  they 
were  neither  more  instructive  nor  more  pleasing  than 
those  of  Dr.  Drake,  at  his  Vine-street  home.  The 
reunions  were  small  enough  to  meet  in  the  parlor,  and 
the  entertainment  and  instruction  of  a  conversational 
character,  so  as  to  avoid  the  rigidity  and  awkwardness 
of  a  mere  literary  party.  Thus,  the  conversation 
never  degenerated  into  mere  gossip,  nor  was  it  ever 
forced  into  an  unpleasant  or  an  unwilling  gravity. 
We  used  to  assemble  early — about  half  past  seven — 
and,  when  fully  collected,  the  doctor,  who  was  the 
acknowledged  chairman,  rang  his  little  bell  for  general 
attention.  This  caused  no  constraint;  but  simply 
brought  us  to  the  topic  of  the  evening.  Sometimes 
this  was  appointed  beforehand.  Sometimes  it  arose 
out  of  what  was  said  or  proposed  on  the  occasion. 
Some  evenings  essays  were  read  on  selected  topics. 
On  other  evenings  nothing  was  read,  and  the  time  was 
passed  in  the  discussion  of  some  interesting  question. 
Occasionally  a  piece  of  poetry  or  a  story  came  in  to 
relieve  the  conversation.  These,  however,  were  rather 
interludes  than  parts  of  the  general  plan,  whose  main 
object  was  the  discussion  of  interesting  questions  be 
longing  to  society,  literature,  and  religions.  The  sub 
jects  were  always  of  a  suggestive  and  problematical 
kind  ;  so  that  the  ideas  were  fresh,  the  debates  ani 
mated,  aud  the  utterance  of  opinion  frank  and  spon 
taneous.  There,  in  that  little  circle  of  ladies  and  gen- 


Personal  Memories.  263 

tlemen,  I  have  heard  many  of  the  questions  which 
have  since  occupied  the  public  mind,  talked  over  with 
an  ability  and  fullness  of  information  which  is  seldom 
possessed  by  larger  and  more  authoritative  bodies. 
JSTor  were  these  meetings  unimportant;  for  nothing 
can  be  unimportant  which  directs  minds — whose  in 
fluence  spreads  over  a  whole  country — and  such  were 
these.  I  do  not  say  what  impressions  they  received; 
but  I  know  that  persons  were  assembled  there,  of  such 
character  and  talent  as  seldom  meet  in  one  place,  and 
who,  going  out  into  the  world,  have  signalized  their 
names  in  the  annals  of  letters,  science,  and  benevo 
lence. 

DR.  DANIEL  DRAKE  was  himself  the  head  of  the  circle, 
whose  suggestive  mind  furnished  topics  for  others,  and 
was  ever  ready  to  revive  a  flagging  conversation.  He 
was  a  man  of  real  genius,  whose  mind  was  fresh,  ac 
tive,  ambitious,  and  intellectually  enterprising.  lie 
studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Goforth,  the  pioneer  physi 
cian  of  Cincinnati,  and  for  thirty  years  was  a  leader 
in  medical  science  and  education.  He  founded  the 
Medical  College  of  Ohio,  the  Cincinnati  Hospital,  and 
was  a  professor  in  medical  colleges,  and  a  teacher,  dur 
ing  the  largest  part  of  his  active  life.  He  closed  his 
career  with  a  great  work  on  the  diseases  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Valley,  a  work  of  great  value,  embodying 
an  immense  amount  of  research,  information,  and 
science. 

GENERAL  EDWARD  KING  was  another  member  of  the 
society,  who,  inspirit,  manners,  and  elocution,  was  a 
superior  man,  having  the  dignity  of  the  old  school, 
with  the  life  of  the  new.  He  was  a  son  of  Rufus 
King,  one  of  the  early  and  able  statesmen  of  our 


264  Personal  Memories. 

country  who  did  much  to  form  our  constitutions,  and 
whose  name  will  live  in  the  annals  of  history.  Gen. 
King  was  bred  a  lawyer,  and  came  out  to  Ohio,  as 
many  aspiring  young  men  did,  to  found  his  fortunes 
in  what  was  then  the  New  West.  He  married  a 
daughter  of  Governor  Worthington,  practiced  law  at 
Chillicothe,  and  hecame  speaker  of  the  Ohio  Legisla 
ture.  Removing  to  Cincinnati,  he  became  a  member 
of  our  literary  circle — both  witty  and  entertaining. 
His  wife,  since  known  as  Mrs.  Peter,  has  become  more 
widely  known  than  her  husband,  for  her  great  and 
active  benevolence,  and  as  the  founder  of  institutions, 
and  a  leader  in  society.  She  had  read  a  great  tU-al, 
had  a  strong  memory,  and  was  remarkable  for  the 
fullness  of  her  information.  She  wrote  several  essays 
for  our  circle,  and  was  a  most  instructive  member. 
The  activity,  energy,  and  benevolence  of  her  mind 
accomplished  in  the  next  forty  years  probably  more 
of  real  work  for  the  benefit  of  society,  than  any  one 
person,  and  that  work  has  made  her  widely  known 
both  at  home  and  abroad. 

""Another  member  of  our  circle  was  JUDGE  JAMES 
\  HALL,  then  editor  of  the  Western  Monthly  Magazine, 
whose  name  is  known  both  in  Europe  and  America. 
He  also,  in  the  long  time  that  elapsed  before  his  death, 
accomplished  much  and  good  work  as  a  writer,  citizen, 
and  man  of  business.  The  Western  Monthly  Magazine, 
which  he  then  edited,  was  an  excellent  periodical,  to 
which  many  of  the  literary  young  men  of  Cincinnati 
contributed.  But  literary  periodicals  there  have  never 
been  profitable.  Many  have  been  published,  but  soon 
perished.  Judge  Hall  left  the  magazine  to  become 
cashier  and  president  of  the  Commercial  Bank,  a 


Personal  Memories.  265 

much  more  profitable  business.  In  the  meanwhile, 
he  published  several  stories,  novels,  and  essays  on  the 
West,  which  made  him  widely  known,  and  deserved 
the  success  they  received,  by  their  very  pleasant  style 
and  pictures  of  Western  life. 

PROFESSOR  STOWE,  then  a  comparatively  young  man, 
was  also  present,  and  contributed  his  share  to  the  con 
versation.  He  is  the  best  Biblical  scholar  I  ever 
knew.  In  recent  years  he  has  published  his  "  History 
of  the  Books  of  the  Bible,"  a  work  of  great  learning 
and  of  great  utility.  His  first  wife,  a  New  England 
lady,  quite  handsome  and  interesting,  also  attended 
the  reunions.  His  present  wife,  then  Miss  HARRIET 
BEECHER,  was  just  beginning  to  be  known  for  her  lit 
erary  abilities.  Two  or  three  years  after  this  time,  I 
published  in  the  Cincinnati  Chronicle  what,  I  believe, 
was  her  first  printed  story.  I  had  heard  her  read  at 
Miss  Pierce's  school,  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  her 
first  public  composition.  It  surprised  everyone  so 
much  that  it  was  attributed  to  her  father,  but  was  in 
fact  only  the  first  exhibition  of  her  remarkable  talents. 
In  the  reunion  I  speak  of,  she  was  not  distinguished  for 
conversation,  but  when  she  did  speak,  showed  some 
thing  of  the  peculiar  strength  and  humor  of  her  mind. 
Her  first  little  story,  published  in  the  CHRONICLE,  im 
mediately  attracted  attention,  and  her  writings  have 
always  been  popular.  Notwithstanding  the  world 
wide  renown  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  her  real  genius 
and  characteristics  were  as  much  exhibited  in  her 
short  stories  as  in  her  larger  books.  Her  sister,  Miss 
CATHARINE  BEECHER,  was  a  far  more  easy  and  fluent 
conversationalist.  Indeed,  few  people  had  more  tal 
ent  to  entertain  a  company,  or  keep  the  ball  of  conver- 


266  Personal  Memories. 

sation  going  than  Miss  Beecher,  and  she  was  as  will 
ing  as  able  for  the  task.  For  many  years  she  was  dis 
tinguished  as  an  educator,  and  has  published  works 
on  domestic  economy,  metaphysics,  and  religion.  Her 
name  is  widely  known,  and  she  is  distinguished  as  an 
author  and  a  philanthropist. 

Conspicuous  in  our  circle,  both  in  person  and  mau- 
iiers,  was  Mrs.  Caroline  Lee  Hentze,  whom  none  saw 
without  admiring.  She  was  what  the  world  called 
charming.  And,  though  since  better  known  as  an 
authoress,  was  personally  quite  remarkable.  Her  hus 
band,  Mr.  Hentze,  was  a  Frenchman,  born  in  the 
Frenchjle  volution.  A  man  of  such  sensitive  and  re 
tiring  habits,  as  hid  him  from  the  public  view.  Yet, 
he  was  a  man  of  science,  fond  of  entomology  and 
natural  history.  At  the  time  I  speak  of,  they  were 
keeping  a  popular  female  seminary  on  Third  street, 
and  were  among  the  most  active  and  interesting  of 
our  coterie.  Soon  after  this,  they  moved  to  the  South, 
and  established  a  female  seminary  there,  and  Mrs. 
Hentze  contributed  several  novels  to  the  press.  I 
might  name  other  persons  whose  wit  or  information 
contributed  to  the  charms  of  our  intercourse,  but  I 
should  wTant  the  apology  which  public  fame  has  given 
to  the  mention  of  these.  We  had  more  than  one 
whose  memory  does  not  linger  on  the  fame-covered 
hill,  but  whose  bright  minds  flowed  in  the  vale  below, 
and  sparkled  as  it  flowed. 

It  is  enough  that  I  have  mentioned  out  of  a  small 
circle  gathered  in  a  parlor  names  which  have  been  re 
nowned  both  in  Europe  arid  America,  and  whose  pub 
lic  reputation  has  contributed  to  the  fame  of  our  coun 
try.  I  have  dwelt  more  particularly  on  these  meetings 


Personal  Memories.  2G7 

to  illustrate  what  I  think  I  've  seen  in  other  cases,  and 
to  which  people  in  general  seldom  give  due  weight.  I 
mean  the  influence  of  social  sympathy  in  forming  and 
developing  individual  minds. 

Several  years  since,  I  heard  one  of  the  oldest  arid 
most  experienced  teachers  in  the  United  States  enume 
rate  a  number  of  distinguished  public  men  in  New 
York,  who  had  all  been  at  the  same  time  pupils  of  one 
school.  Among  them  were  the  most  eminent  literary 
men  of  that  state.  I  can  not  doubt  that  they  greatly 
influenced  one  another  in  their  tastes  and  studies,  for 
I  have  seen  that  in  other  schools  and  societies. 

About  the  year  1833,  was  founded  what  was  called 
"  The  College  of  Teachers,"  which  continued  ten  years, 
and  was  an  institution  of  great:  utility  jmd  wide  influ 
ence.  Its  object  was  both  professional  and  popular; 
to  unite  and  improve  teachers,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
to  commend  the  cause  of  education  to  the  public  mind. 
The  former  object  might  have  been  obtained  by  the 
meeting  of  practical  teachers  only,  as  is  now  done,  but 
to  popularize  education  required  that  gentlemen  of 
science  and  general  reputation,  who  had  weight  with 
the  community,  should  also  be  connected  with  it.  At 
that  time,  public  education  was  just  beginning,  and 
almost  all  in  the  Ohio  educational  system,  as  I  shall 
hereafter  show,  was  created  and  developed  after  that 
period.  To  do  this  was  the  object  in  view,  and, 
accordingly,  a  large  array  of  distinguished  persons 
took  part  in  these  proceedings.  I  doubt  whether  in 
any  one  association  to  promote  theTjatiBir t>£  education, 
there  was  ever  in  an  equal  space  of  time  concentrated 
in  this  country  a  larger  measure  of  talent,  informa 
tion,  and  zeal.  Among  those  who  either  spoke  or 


268  Personal  Memories. 

wrote  for  it,  were  ALBERT  PICKETT,  the  president,  and 
for  half  a  century  an  able  teacher  ;  DR.  DANIEL  DRAKE, 
the  I^ON,  TJ&QMAS  SMITH  GRI"MK)E,  the  REV.  JOSHUA  L. 
WILSON,  ALEXANDER  KINMONT,  and  JAMES  H.  PERKINS, 
PROF.  STOWE,  DR.  BEECHER,  DR.  ALEX.  CAMPBELL, 
BISHOP  PURCELL,  PRESIDENT  McGuFFEY,  DR.  AYDE- 
LOTTE,  E.  D.  MANSFIELD,  MRS.  LYDIA  SIGOURNEY,  and 
MRS.  CAROLINE  LEE  HENTZE. 

With  these  were  numerous  professors,  practical 
teachers,  and  citizens,  zealous  for  the  cause  of  edu 
cation,  most  of  whom  contributed  more  or  less  to  the 
transactions  of  the  college.  These  transactions  were 
for  several  years  embodied  in  annual  volumes,  which 
can  no  doubt  be  found  in  public  libraries,  and  which 
contain  able  and  eloquent  treatises  on  various  sub 
jects. 

The  duty  of  organization  and  publication — in  fact, 
that  of  practically  sustaining  the  association — fell 
mainly  on  the  working  teachers  of  Cincinnati,  and  for 
this  reason,  probably,  it  ultimately  died  away,  and  lost 
its  popular  character.  It  had,  however,  accomplished 
its  object,  in  exciting  popular  interest  in  education, 
and  impelling  many  persons  to  its  support,  who  had 
the  ability  and  influence,  to  found  the  present  system 
of  public  schools  in  Ohio.  Since  that  time,  associa 
tions  of  practical  teachers  have  taken  its  place,  and 
are  beyond  doubt  useful  and  instructive  to  teachers. 
Yet  there  is  wanting  some  popular  means  of  connect 
ing  teachers  with  the  great  public  ;  and  I  am  convinced 
that  the  College  of  Teachers,  composed  of  both  practi 
cal  and  literary  men,,  was  the  best  reunion  of  that  sort 
yet  devised,  and  for  which  no  substitute  has  been  found. 
The  human  spirit,  like  a  plant,  needs  a  genial  soil,  and 


Personal  Memories.  269 

draws  nutriment  not  only  from  the  earth,  but  from  the 
atmosphere.  In  this  place  it  is  proper  to  mention 
some  of  those  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  College 
of  Teachers,  and  nearly  all  of  whom  are  dead. 

ALBERT  PICKETT,  president  of  the  College  of  Teach 
ers,  was  a  venerable,  gray-haired  man,  who  had  been 
for  nearly  fifty  years  a  practical  teacher.  lie  had  for 
many  years  kept  a  select  academy,  in  New  York.  lie 
removed  to  Cincinnati  a  few  years  before  the  period 
of  which  I  speak,  and  established  a  select  school  for 
young  ladies.  He  was  a  thorough  teacher,  a  man  of 
clear  head,  and  filled  with  zeal  for  his  profession.  He 
presided  over  the  college  with  great  dignity,  and  I 
never  knew  a  man  of  more  pure,  disinterested  zeal  in 
the  cause  of  education. 

DR.  JOSHUA  L.  WILSON  was  a  pioneer  in  the  church 
as  well  as  in  the  settlement  of  Cincinnati.  He  was 
not  the  first  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but 
was  the  longest  in  service — I  think  about  forty  years. 
In  the  College  of  Teachers  he  was  an  earnest  and 
zealous  advocate  of  public  education  ;  but  demanded 
that  education  should  be  founded  on  religion,  and 
the  Bible  should  be  a  primary  element  in  all  public 
education.  In  1830,  Dr.  "Wilson  delivered  an  address, 
in  one  paragraph  of  which  he  sums  up  his  reasoning 
on  this  subject  "(which  is  also  an  example  of  his  style 
and  sentiments)  :  "  But,  to  sum  up  what  I  have  said, 
'  God  has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men.' 
These  natures  of  ours,  which  climate,  custom,  lan 
guage,  and  religion  have  made  appear  so  opposite,  are 
formed  after  the  same  image,  Is  the  rude  Ilotentot 
superior  to  the  ape  ?  It  is  because  he  is  a  man,  and 
not  a  brute.  Is  the  civilized  man  superior  to  the 


270  Personal  Memories. 

Hottentot  ?  It  is  because  he  is  instructed  and  edu 
cated.  Is  the  Christian  superior  to  the  pagan?  It  is 
because  he  knows  the  Bible,  and  its  Divine  Author." 
ALEXANDER  KINMONT  might  be  called  an  apostle  of 
classical  learning.  If  others  considered  the  classics 
necessary  to  an  education,  he  thought  them  the  one 
thing  needful — the  pillar  and  foundation  of  solid  learn 
ing.  For  this  he  contended  with  the  zeal  of  a  martyr 
for  his  creed  ;  and  if  ever  the  classics  received  aid 
from  the  manner  in  which  they  were  handled,  they  re 
ceived  it  from  him.  Kinmout  was  a  Scotchman,  born 
near  Montrose,  Angusshire.  Having  accidentally  lost 
one  arm,  he  was  left  to  pursue  the  bent  of  his  tastes 
toward  learning.  In  school  and  college  he  bore  off  the 
first  prizes,  and  advanced  with  rapid  steps  in  the 
career  of  knowledge.  At  the  University  of  Edin 
burgh,  which  he  entered  while  yet  young,  he  became 
tainted  with  the  scepticism  then  very  prevalent.  Re 
moving  to  America,  he  became  principal  of  the  Bed 
ford  Academy,  where  he  shone  as  a  superior  teacher. 
There  he  emerged  from  the  gloom  and  darkness  of 
scepticism,  to  the  faith  of  the  "  New  Church,"  as  the 
church  founded  on  the  principles  of  Swedenborg  is 
called.  His  vivid  imagination  was  well  adapted  to  re 
ceive  these  doctrines,  and  he  advocated  them  with  all 
the  fervor  of  his  nature.  In  1827,  he  removed  to 
Cincinnati,  and  established  a  select  academy  for  the 
instruction  of  boys  in  mathematical  and  classical  learn 
ing.  The  motto  adopted  was:  "Sit  gloria  Dei,  et 
utilitate  hominum"  a  motto  which  does  honor  to 
both  his  head  and  heart.  In  1835,  before  the  College 
of  Teachers,  he  was  specially  opposed  to  the  doctrines 
of  Mr.  Grimke,  which  were  in  favor  of  what  he  termed 


Personal  Memories.  271 


an  "  American  education,"  and  in  opposition  to  ma 
thematics  and  the  classics.  On  this  he  rose  to  the 
highest  style  of  oratory,  and  seemed  like  one  of  those 
classical  heroes  whom  he  admired  so  ranch.  Kin- 
mont  made  a  profound  impression  on  those  who  knew 
him,  and  to  me  he  had  the  air  and  character  of  a  man 
of  superior  genius, .and,  what  is  very  rare,  of  one  whose 
learning  was  equal  to  his  genius. 

JAMES  II.  PERKINS  took  little  part  in  the  college, 
but  was  one  of  the  literary  circle  of  which  it  was 
mainly  constituted.  He  was  a  New  England  man, 
highly  educated  ;  came  out  to  Cincinnati  as  a  lawyer ; 
was  a  year  or  two  editor  of  the  Chronicle;  and  finally 
a  minister  of  the  Unitarian  Church  in  this  city,  where 
he  made  a  strong  impression.  He  died  young,  and 
was  most  profoundly  lamented  by  a  large  circle  of 
friends,  and  held  in  honorable  remembrance  by  the 
community  in  which  he  had  lived.  As  a  writer,  Mr. 
Perkins  was  remarkably  graceful  and  easy,  and  some 
of  his  short  articles  were  as  popular  as  any  written  in 
the  country.  When  editor  of  the  Chronicle,  I  pub 
lished  one  of  Mr.  Perkins'  articles,  called  "  -The  Hole 
in  my  Pocket"  That  article,  I  think,  must  have  been 
published  in  nearly  all  the  newspapers  in  the  country. 
Years  after  it  was  first  published,  I  saw  it  in  our  ex 
change  papers,  floating  about.  He  edited  a  work  en 
titled  "  Western  Annals,"  or  "  Annals  of  the  West," 
the  materials  for  which  were  mainly  furnished  by 
James  Albach.  It  is  the  only  complete  book  of  its 
kind  I  know  of,  and  the  only  monument  which  Mr. 
Perkins  left  to  his  literary  labors. 

DR.  LYMAN  BEECHER  was  one  of  the  speakers  in  the 
College  of  Teachers,  but  contributed  little  to  its  pro- 


272  Personal  Memories. 

ceedings.  On  one  occasion  be  entered  into  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  question,  whether  excitement  to  emula 
tion  was  an  admissible  means  of  education.  On  this 
subject  there  are  various  opinions.  Dr.  Beecher,  and 
a  majority  of  the  committee,  made  a  report  against 
the  admission  of  emulation  in  any  form.  The  other 
members  of  the  committee,  being  Mr.  Pickeit,  Dr.  Drake, 
and  President  McGuffey,  made  a  counter-report.  The 
college  did  not  adopt  either  report,  but  simply  passed 
a  resolution,  that  rewards  to  merit  were  a  right  and 
proper  means  of  education. 

BISHOP  PURCELL  was  present  in  several  meetings, 
but  took  no  active  part  in  the  proceedings. 

Among  others  present,  was  DR.  ALEXANDER  CAMP 
BELL — a  most  remarkable  man.  He  became,  perhaps 
unintentionally,  the  founder  of  a  large  religious  sect, 
called,  in  his  time,  Carnpbellite  Baptists,  but  now 
known  as  The  Disciples  of  Christ.  I  have  heard  Dr. 
Campbell  preach, for  the  very  purpose  of  ascertaining 
his  doctrines.  I  can  not  be  mistaken  in  two  of  his 
peculiar  principles — the  first,  that  the  Bible  alone  is 
the  only  creed,  and  that  no  human  creed  is  right ; 
secondly,  that  regeneration  is  coincident  with  baptism 
that  is,  baptismal  regeneration.  On  this  account,  he 
was  at  first  excluded  from  the  Baptist  Church,  but  the 
opinions  he  held  were  in  some  degree  popular,  and 
the  sect  he  founded  lias  continued  to  increase.  Camp 
bell  was  a  man  of  learning,  keen  intellect,  and  an  in 
structive  speaker.  He  was  interesting  in  discussion 
and  conversation .  His  name  will  probably  live  longer 
as  the  founder  of  a  sect  than  that  of  many  men  of 
genius. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  men  who  appeared  in 


Personal  Memories.  273 


the  College  of  teachers  was  THOMAS  SMITH  GRIMKI:, 
of_Soutli  Carolina — a  most  devoted  Christian,  and.  a 
thorough  American.  lie  had  formed  some  very  pe 
culiar  theories  of  education,  flowing  from  the  ultraism 
of  his  ideas.  The  classics,  he  held,  should  not  be 
taught  as  a  means  of  education,  because  they  were 
the  literature  of  heathenism,  and  inculcated  false  prin 
ciples.  The  study  of  Homer,  he  said,  had  given  the 
heroic  character  to  the  leading  men  of  South  Caro 
lina,  so  that  they  dwelt  in  the  ideality  of  a  false 
heroism,  rather  than  in  the  plain,  practical,  Christian 
sentiment  of  America.  Hence^  he  said,  sprang  the 
du_el,  dissatisfaction  with  the  Union,  and  the  outbreak 
of  nullification — to  which  may  since  be  added  the 
Rebellion.  Against  mathematics  he  protested  almost 
equally  strongly.  He  thought  it  unnecessary  to  give 
so  much  time  to  the  study  of  abstract  science,  when  it 
could  be  employed  on  the  Bible,  literature,  and  po 
litical  institutions. 

In  advocating  these  ideas  he  delivered  a  fine  address 
before  the  College  of  Teachers.  On.  the  subject  of 
the  classics  he  was  answered  by  PROFESSOR  POST,  in  a 
very  elegant  discourse.  On  the  subject  of  mathe 
matics  he  was  answered  by  myself,  in  a  discourse  en 
titled  "  The  Utility  of  Mathematics."  Parts  of  this 
address  have  for  forty  years  been  published  in  school 
readers.  The  peculiarities  of  Mr.  Grimke  did  not 
diminish  the  high  regard  in  which  his  character  was 
held,  lie  was  an  earnest  Christian,  a  man  of  pro 
found  thought,  of  excellent  learning,  and  of  noble 
conduct.  lie  carried  us  back  to  the  days  of  primi 
tive  Christianity,  and  his  discourses  on  science,  litera 
ture,  and  religion  were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  piety. 


274  Personal  Memories. 

The  Charleston  Temperance  Society  declared  emphat 
ically  that  he  was  the  father  of  the  temperance  move 
ment  in  South  Carolina.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  adorned  by  his  life  and  con 
versation  the  doctrines  he  professed.  He  held  some 
peculiar  opinions.  He  believed  it  the  duty  of  every 
Christian,  ecclesiastic" or  layman,  to  preach  the  gospel 
to"every  creature,  and  authorized  to  administer  the 
ordinances  of  religion.  lie  worked  to  make  the 
world  altogether  righteous  by  means  which  supposed 
it  already  such. 

"Of  those 

That  build  their  monuments  where  virtue  builds, 
Artthou;  and  gathered  to  thy  rest,  we  deem 
That  thou  wast  lent  us  just  to  show  how  blest 
And  lovely  is  the  life  that  lives  for  all." 

Among  the  first  subjects  of  interest  which  came 
before  the  College  of  Teachers  was  the  inefficiency  of 
the  school  system  and  the  ignorance  of  teachers. 
These  points  were  fully  discussed  until  the  principles 
necessary  for  improvement  were  determined.  Look 
ing  to  an  efficient  school  law,  the  College  of  Teachers 
passed  a  resolution  that  it  would  greatly  advance 
the  interests  of  education  in  the  West  for  teachers 
and  friends  of  education  to  hold  periodical  conven 
tions  at  the  seats  of  government  in  the  different 
states,  during  the  session  of  the  general  assemblies. 

In  pursuance  of  this  resolution,  a  convention  of 
teachers  and  friends  of  education  was  held  in  Colum 
bus,  assembling  on  the  13th  of  January,  1836.  Of 
this  convention  Governor  Lucas  was  president ;  Dr. 
Hogue,  vice-president,  and  Milo  J.  Williams,  secre 
tary.  Prior  to  this  time  Governor  Vance  had  ap- 


Personal  Memories.  275 

pointed  Professor  Calvin  E.  Stowe  an  agent  of  the 
state  to  visit  Prussia,  and  obtain  information  on  the 
Prussian  system  of  instruction.  lie  had  just  returned, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  convention.  The  Prussian 
school  system  was  discussed,  lectures  delivered,  and 
debates  held.  The  subject  of  common  schools  was 
referred  to  a  committee,  and  on  the  16th  of  January 
the  committee  reported,  by  E.  I).  MANSFIELD,  point 
ing  out  the  defects  of  the  school  law,  and  recommend 
ing  amendments  in  relation  to  the  appointment  of  a 
superintendent,  the  requisition  of  higher  qualifica 
tions  on  the  part  of  teachers,  the  greater  responsibil 
ity  and  additional  duties  of  examiners,  the  establish 
ment  of  school  libraries,  and  the  collection  of  school 
statistics.  This  report  was  adopted  in  the  form  of  a 
memorial  to  the  legislature,  and  all  its  recommenda 
tions  have  since  been  embodied  in  the  school  laws. 

The  convention  of  the  friends  of  education  met 
again  in  the  winter  of  1836-1837,  and  recommended 
the  substance  of  the  act  of  March,  1838,  which  was 
adopted  by  the  legislature,  and  made  one  of  the  most 
important  school  epochs  of  the  state.  In  fine,  the 
College  of  Teachers  was  the  moving  cause  of  that 
magnificent  school  system  which  has  placed  Ohio  in 
the  front  rank  of  states  who  regard  education  as  the 
defense  of  republican  freedom. 

In  the  proceedings  of  the  College  of  Teachers  I 
took  an  active  part,  as  I  did  in  all  movements  for 
education.  Besides  the  discourse  on  "  The  Utilhy  of 
Mathematics,"  I  made  several  reports,  and  entered  into 
nearly  all  the  public  discussions.  Subsequently  I  de 
livered  several  lectures,  and  published  a  volume  on 


276  Personal  Memories. 

various  topics  connected  with  popular  education.  On 
looking  back  upon  this  part  of  my  life,  I  find  nothing 
to  regret,  but  feel  grateful  that  I  was  permitted  to  do 
something  for  the  promotion  of  the  intelligence  and 
elevation  of  the  people. 


Personal  Memories.  277 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Ormsby  Mitchell — The  Political  Grammar — Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher — John  Quincy  Adams — Abolition — Right  of 
Petition — .Bank  of  the  United  Slates — Removal  of  the 
Deposits — Storer  and  Lytle — Cincinnati  College — Dr. 
McGuffey — Charles  Tdford — Cincinnati  Chronicle — 
Benjamin  Drake — Myself. 

IN  the  year  1834  I  had  my  office  on  Third  street, 
near  Main.  My  partner  in  our  professed  law  business 
was  ORMSBY  MC^IGHT  MITCHELL,  a  man  so  noted  and 
so  brilliant  that  I  must  mention  him  here.  Mitchell 
was  noted  at  West  Point  for  his  quickness  and  in 
genuity.  My  father,  who  was  professor  of  philos 
ophy  there,  used  to  say  of  him:  "Little  Mitchell  .is 
very  ingenious."  He  was  more  than  that,  for  he  was 
.what  you  seldom  see,  a  man  of  real  genius.  A  great 
many  people  are  spoken  of  as  men  of  genius,  but  I 
never  saw  more  than  half  a  dozen  in  my  life,  and 
Ormsby  Mitchell  was  one  of  them.  Many  of  those 
who  read  these  pages  will  remember  him  as  the 
founder  of  the  Cincinnati  Observatory,  as  an  eloquent 
lecturer  on  astronomy,  and  as  a  patriotic  general  in 
the  war.  I  shall  speak  of  him  hereafter  in  each  of 
these  capacities.  It  is  enough  now  to  say  that  he  was 
my  partner  in  a  profession  for  which  I  think  neither 
of  us  was  well  adapted.  We  were  really  literary 
men,  and  our  thoughts  wandered  off  to  other  sub 
jects.  The  scene  in  our  office  was  often  a  remarka- 


278  Personal  Memories. 

ble  one,  though  observed  by  no  eyes  but  our  own. 
Mitchell  was  fond  of  the  classics,  and  instinctively 
fond  of  eloquence,  which  in  his  after  lectures  on  as 
tronomy  he  so  brilliantly  exhibited.  The  scene  I  re 
fer  to  was  this:  Mitchell  sat  in  one  corner  reading 
Quintilian,  a  Latin  author  on  oratory.  He  was  enam 
ored  of  the  book,  and  would  turn  to  me  and  read 
passages  from  it.  I,  on  the  other  hand,  sat  at  my 
desk  in  another  corner,  writing  my  Political  Gram 
mar  (now  the  Political  Manual).  Thus  we  were  two 
students,  each  occupied  with  his  own  literary  pursuits, 
and  neither  thinking  of  what  both  professed,  the  prac 
tice  of  the  law.  The  consequence  was,  what  might 
have  been  expected,  Mitchell  resorted  to  teaching 
classes,  and,  I  became  a  public  writer.  We  both 
found  our  vocations,  though,  very  different  from  what 
either  had  anticipated. 

This  was  one  of  the  cholera  seasons,  in  which  I  fin 
ished  my  Political  Grammar,  and  found  relief  from 
the  anxieties  of  the  season  in  my  literary  work.  Lit 
erary  work  has  been  the  theme  of  my  existence,  and 
I  can  say  with  Cicero,  at  however  great  a  distance, 
that  it  has  been  with  me,  in  the  city  and  in  the  coun 
try,  at  home  and  abroad,  a  pleasure  in  prosperity  and 
a  solace  in  adversity.  It  has  never  been  a  labor  to 
me,  as  some  think,  but  a  pleasant  employment.  In 
some  form,  whether  of  newspaper,  book,  or  statistical 
work,  it  has  compensated  rne  as  well  as  most  profes 
sional  employment.  I  can  not  complain  of  it,  while 
I  am  thankful  that  it  has  done  some  good,  and  been 
of  no  little  service  to  the  public  interests. 

There  were  many  things  of -interest  in  the  year 
1834,  and  to  us  as  individuals,  not  the  least  was,  that 


Personal  Memories.  279 

both  Mitchell  and  I  joined  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  pastor  of  that  church  was  DR.  LYMAN 
BEECHER,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  clergymen  in 
the  United  States ;  remarkable  for  great  abilities,  great 
virtues,  great  power  as  a  speaker,  and  no  little  eccen 
tricity.  I  have  known  and  heard  many  of  the  most 
able,  noted,  and  eloquent  preachers  in  the  United 
States;  but,  taken  all  in  all,  I  never  knew  the  equal 
of  Dr.  Beecher  in  the  Christian  ministry.  The  pulpits 
and  the  places  he  occupied  before  the  public  will,  in 
some  measure,  testify  to  his  eminence.  He  was  pas 
tor  of  the  church  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  when  I 
was  a  law  student.  The  students  all  attended  his 
church,  and  it  was  there  he  delivered  his  six  lectures 
on  temperance,  which  were  the  origin  of  the  first  great 
temperance  movement. 

Thence,  he  went  to  Boston  as  the  pastor  of  the 
Park  Street  Church,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the 
Unitarian  controversy  ;  from  there  he .  was  called  to 
the  leading  professorship  in  Lane  Seminary,  a  theo 
logical  institution  just  founded  in  Cincinnati.  He 
was  now  also  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  ;  his  mind  was  so  active  and  industrious  that 
he  filled  both  offices  with  unrivaled  success.  At  this 
time,  1884,  there  was  a  quiet  but  extensive  revival  in 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church;  it  was  then  that 
Mitchell,  I,  and  perhaps  forty  others  united  with  the 
church,  of  which  I  was  a  member  during  the  whole 
of  my  residence  in  Cincinnati. 

My  Political  Grammar,  by  Harper  &  Brothers,  New 
York,  subsequently  published  by  Truman  &  Smith, 
was  transferred  to  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.,  New  York, 
who  now  publish  it  as  the  Political  Manual.  It  was 


280  Personal  Memories. 

begun  when  the  nullification  question,  the  real  origin 
of  the  Rebellion  had  just  been  discussed,  and  I  was 
filled  with  the  absurdity  of  nullification  and  with  love 
of  the  Union.  Under  these  circumstances  the  book 
contained  very  positive  ideas  On  that  subject,  and  was 
charged  with  being  onesided  ;  however  that  may  be, 
it  has  remained  before  the  public  for  forty  years  and 
met  with  the  approbation  of  intelligent  men  and  pa 
triotic  people.  This  year  also  saw  the  beginning  of  a 
controversy  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  which  lasted 
until  slavery  was  destroyed  in  the  civil  war.  Perhaps, 
this  is  the  proper  place  to  mention  how  that  contro 
versy  began.  I  have  already  in  a  former  chapter 
mentioned  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  excite 
ment  which  it  caused ;  that  had  died  away  until  the 
tariff  of  1828  caused  a  new  agitation  in  the  South, 
which  I  have  also  described  ;  this  caused  nullification, 
and  the  claim  then  strongly  put  forth,  that  a  state  had 
the  right  to  interpose  and  nullify  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  All  these  transactions  had  undoubt 
edly  increased  the  feeling  of  thoughtful  and  religious 
people  in  the  North,  that  slavery  was  the  real  cause 
of  these  agitations,  and  that  unless  some  remedy  for 
it  could  be  found,  either  the  Union  would  be  destroyed 
or  slavery  become  dominant  in  the  whole  country. 
Hence,  arose  abolition  societies.  The  idea  of  an 
abolition  society  was  not  a  new  thing.  The  Society 
of  Friends,  Franklin,  Rush,  and  numbers  of  enlight 
ened  and  benevolent  people  had  presented  petitions 
against  slavery  in  the  early  stage  of  the  government; 
they  were  then  treated  with  respect,  hut  caused  no 
public  agitation  ;  now,  however,  the  abolition  societies 
were  regarded  as  political  agitators,  disunionists,  and 


Personal  Memories.  281 

assailants  of  constitutional  rights.  In  the  North 
as  well  as  the  South,  they  were  regarded  as  the  ene 
mies  of  the  Union,  of  commerce,  and  of  the  constitu 
tion.  At  least,  such  was  the  coloring  put  upon  them 
hy  all  leading  politicians,  and  almost  all  the  press. 
They  established  papers  to  sustain  their  opinions,  and 
in  the  controversy  which  ensued  the  leaders  "became 
martyrs  to  their  defense  of  freedom.  Garrison  was 
imprisoned  in  Baltimore,  Owen  Lovejoy,  in  Illinois, 
was  killed  by  a  mob,  and  Hundreds  of  others  less 
noted  were  imprisoned,  or  exiled,  or  killed,  or  mur 
dered.  At  this  time,  1834,  they  had  excited  little  in 
terest,  but  had  begun  to  present  petitions  to  Congress. 
The  right  of  petition  was  an  undoubted  constitutional 
right  of  every  man,  woman,  or  child,  black  or  white, 
bond  or  free.  It  was  so  described  and  maintained 
by  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  in  his  bold  and  vigorous 
speeches  upon  this  question.  Here  it  was  that  tjie 
South  committed  a  great  blunder,  unless  their  leaders 
looked  forward  not  only  to  civil  war,  but  to  success  in 
it.  They  assumed  that  the  abolition  societies  were 
the  cause  of  a  dangerous  agitation,  and,  therefore, 
must  be  suppressed  by  negative  if  not  positive  law; 
that  is,  the  right  of  petition  must  be  denied  altogether. 
This,  they  undertook  to  do.  The  controversy  on  the 
right  of  petition,  for  the  next  half  a  dozen  years,  ex 
hibits  clearly  the  purpose  of  the  South  to  suppress  all 
discussion  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  A  few  historical 
facts  will  show  this  clearly.  In  December,  1835, 
Mr.  Fairfield,  of  Maine,  presented  the  petition  of 
one  hundred  and  seventy-two  women,  praying  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia;  it 
was  laid  on  the  table,  yeas,  180  ;  nays,  31 ;  the  nays 


282  Personal  Memories. 

all  from  the  North,  and  mainly  Whigs.  A  few  days 
after,  Mr.  Jackson,  of  Massachusetts,  presented  a  sim 
ilar  petition,  and  it  was  laid  on  the  table,  yeas,  140; 
nays,  76.  In  the  following  year,  Mr.  Buchanan,  of 
Pennsylvania,  presented  a  similar  petition  in  the  sen 
ate,  from  the  meeting  of  Friends,  and  he  moved  that 
the  memorial  be  read  and  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners 
be  rejected. 

In  December,  1837,  finding  that  the  agitation  was 
not  quieted,  it  was  resolved  by  the  house  of  represen 
tatives  :  "That  all  petitions,  memorials,  and  papers 
touching  the  abolition  of  slavery,  or  the  relations  of 
slaves  in  any  state  or  territory  of  the  United  States, 
be  laid  upon  the  table,  without  being  debated,  printed, 
read,  or  referred."  This  resolution  was  passed  by 
yeas,  122  :  nays,  74;  the  nays  being  mainly,  if  not  en 
tirely,  the  Whig  members  from  the  free  states.  In 
December,  1838,  Mr.  Atherton,  a  Democrat  from  New 
Hampshire,  introduced  a  set  of  resolutions,  which 
caused  great  excitement  and  discussion  at  the  time. 
The  last  clause  was  the  one  most  important  and  most 
discussed  ;  it  was  this  :  u  That  every  petition,  memo 
rial,  resolution,  proposition,  or  paper,  touching  or  re 
lating  in  any  way,  or  to  any  extent  whatever,  to  slav 
ery,  as  aforesaid,  or  the  abolition  thereof,  shall, 
on  the  presentation  thereof,  be  laid  on  the  table 
without  being  debated,  printed,  or  referred."  This 
was  called  the  Gag  law;  its  object  was  to  silence  all 
discussion  whatever;  it  passed  by  yeas,  127  ;  nays,  78. 
It  would  seem  that  the  house  had  now  done  all  that 
was  possible  to  silence  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question.  But  in  January,  1840,  William  Cost  John- 


Personal  Memories.  283 

son,  of  Maryland,  Whig,  introduced  resolutions,  the 
last  of  which  was : 

"  Kesolved,  that  no  petition,  memorial,  resolution, 
or  other  paper  praying  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  or  any  state  or  territory,  or 
the  slave  trade  between  the  states  or  territories  of  the 
United  States  in  which  it  now  exists,  shall  be  received 
by  the  house  or  entertained  in  any  way  whatever." 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  these  live  years  the  house  had 
step  by  step  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  not  merely  to 
reject,  but  not  even  to  receive  any  petitions  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  This  was  so  directly  contrary  to 
the  received  opinions  of  the  United  States,  on  the 
subject  of  constitutional  freedom,  that  even  some 
Southern  members  voted  against  it.  The  resolution  was, 
however,  carried  by  a  114  to  108 ;  the  majority  being 
made  by  Northern  dough-faces,  who  had  neither  the 
courage  to' resist,  nor  the  sense  to  understand  this  vio 
lent  abrogation  of  constitutional  rights.  Of  the 
twenty-eight  Northern  members  who  voted  for  it;  six 
came  from  Ohio ;  they  soon  passed  into  oblivion  and 
their  names  are  now  unknown,  except  in  the  political 
record  of  the  day.  The  controversy  on  the  right  of 
petition  was  now  ended  until  these  usurpations  were 
all  blotted  out  in  the  blood  of  the  Rebellion.  Even  the 
historian  will  scarcely  notice  them,  since  slavery  and 
all  its  attendant  crimes  are,  we  trust,  destroyed  forever. 

We  must  now  return  to  the  year  1834,  in  which  were 
many  subjects  of  political  interest.  One  of  these  was 
the  removal  of  the  deposits  by  Jackson.  The  Bank 
of  the  United  States  then  existed,  and  had  been  char 
tered  for  the  very  purpose  of  transacting  the  financial 
business  of  the  United  States.  The  public  deposits 


284  Personal  Memories. 

were  by  law  made  in  that  bank,  which  also  transferred 
the  government  moneys,  and  in  fact  performed  its 
financial  business.  Jackson  was  opposed  to  the  bank, 
and  greatly  irritated  by  the  conduct  of  Nicholas  Bid- 
die,  president  of  the  bank,  who  very  unwisely  under 
took  to  oppose  and  resist  the  influence  of  the  presi 
dent.  In  consequence  of  his  own  irritation  and  hos 
tility,  he  undertook  to  remove  the  deposits.  Finding 
the  secretary  of  the  treasury  opposed  to  his  views,  he 
appointed  MR.  DUANE,  of  Philadelphia,  secretary  of 
the  treasury,  but  Duane  was  also  opposed  to  his  mode 
of  proceeding.  In  a  brief  time,  Duane  was  removed 
from  office,  and  Roger  B.  Taney,  of  Maryland,  after 
ward  chief  justice,  was  appointed  secretary,  and  the 
deposits  were  removed.  This  whole  procedure  shocked 
the  public  mind,  and  was  the  real  origin  of  the  Whig 
party.  It  is  possible  the  term  had  been  used  before 
this  time,  but  it  was  first  used  as  the  collective  name 
of  the  great  party  opposed  to  Jackson.  I  was  at  a 
meeting  in  the  court-house  of  Cincinnati  in  the  year 
1834,  and  spoke  and  introduced  resolutions  in  which 
the  term  Whig  was  employed.  It  was  the  first  meet 
ing  in  which  I  ever  heard  it  employed.  The  objects 
of  the  Whig  party  were,  opposition  to  arbitrary  power, 
as  exhibited  by  Jackson,  and  in  favor  of  legislation  for 
the  "  general  welfare,"  embracing  subjects  of  finance, 
industry,  and  commerce.  The  term  "  general  welfare" 
is  expressly  used  in  the  constitution  to  denote  the  gen 
eral  legislation  of  congress.  The  right  thus  to  legislate 
on  these  subjects,  without  a  special  grant  in  the  con 
stitution,  was  denied  by  the  present  Democratic  party, 
which  began  at  the  same  time  with  the  Whigs,  and 


Personal  Memories.  285 

whicli  professed  an  adherence  to  state  rights  and  strict 
construction  of  the  constitution. 

I  say  the  present  Democratic  party,  because  the  old 
Democratic  party,  in  the  time  of  Jefferson,  did  not  call 
itself  Democratic.  It  was  a  nickname,  given  it  by  its 
opponents  from  the  Democratic  clubs  of  France  and  the 
Democratic  clubs  formed  in  this  country  by  Genet,  the 
French  ambassador,  who  was  sent  home  by  Washing 
ton  for  interference  in  politics.  The  party  of  Jefferson, 
now  called  the  old  Democratic  party,  called  itself  Re 
publican,  and  all  the  official  records  of  that  party,  down 
to  the  last  caucus  in  1816,  show  this  fact.  The  present 
Republican  party  has  the  name  of  the  old  Democratic 
party,  and  it  has  proved  its  name  to  be  quite  as  popu 
lar  as  that  of  Democratic.  Thus  we  see  that  in  1834 
the  parties,  or  rather  great  factions,  which  had  been 
formed  under  personal  leaders,  such  as  Clay,  Jackson, 
Adams,  and  Crawford,  were  now  consolidated  into  the 
great  national  parties  called  Whig  and  Democratic, 
which  for  the  time  being  were  separated  by  real  prin 
ciples. 

The  opponents  of  the  United  States  Bank,  who, 
after  the  removal  of  the  deposits  by  Jackson,  became 
hostile  to  paper  money,  proposed  the  doctrine  of  hard 
money,  and  Colonel  Benton,  then  in  the  senate,  said 
that  gold  would  flow  up  the  Mississippi.  This  was 
laughed  at  by  the  Whigs,  and  gold  has  not  yet  flowed 
up  the  Mississippi.  But  this  idea  gave  rise  to  a  curi 
ous  incident  in  Cincinnati  politics.  ROBERT  T.  LYTLE 
(son  of  General  William  Lytle,  a  pioneer  in  this  sec 
tion,  and  a  warm  friend  of  Jackson's)  represented  Cin 
cinnati  in  congress.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  quite  a 
brilliant  man,  ambitious  of  political  honors,  and  a 


286  Personal  Memories. 

proteg6  of  Jackson's.  In  fact,  I  was  told  that  Jack 
son  treated  him  almost  as  a  son.  Of  course,  when 
Jackson  removed  the  deposits,  Lytle  sustained  him  by 
his  vote ;  but  in  the  meanwhile  the  business  men  of 
Cincinnati  considered  themselves  injured  and  endan 
gered  by  the  attack  on  the  United  States  Bank.  In 
consequence  of  this  feeling,  Lytle  was  defeated  at  the 
next  election,  and  was  succeeded  by  BELLAMY  STOREJI. 
At  the  end  of  Storer's  term,  he  declined  a  rcnomina- 
tion,  and  the  Democrats  nominated  Lytle,  but  the 
"Whigs  were  exasperated  by  Jackson's  conduct  toward 
the  bank,  and  determined,  if  they  could  not  elect  their 
candidate,  they  would  put  a  sligbt  upon  Lytle.  There 
was  a  wild,  good-natured  young  man,  called  "Wash. 
Mason,  whom  they  nominated  for  congress  against 
Lytle,  and  called  the  contest  "  Gildibus  against  Gold- 
ibus."  Strange  as  it  may  seem, "  Gildibus  "  came  within 

Utbout  fifty  votes  of  being  elected,  a  result  which  ac- 
jomplished  what  the  Whigs  intended  as  a  slight,  but 
iot  a  success.     Lytle  did  not  remain  in  Congress,  and 
n  a  few  years  died.     His  son,  General  Wm.  H.  Lytle, 
was  also  a  brilliant  man,  who  was  killed  on  the  Union 
side  in  the  war. 

Perhaps  this  is  the  proper  place  to  mention  the 
final  result  of  Jackson's  war  on  the  bank.  The. bank 
was  not  rechartered  by  congress,  but  was  chartered  by 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  It  undertook  to  sustain 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  in  its  great  internal  im 
provements  and  developments,  and  supply  national 
currency.  In  one  word,  it  undertook  to  do  the 
business  of  a  national  bank,  without  its  power.  The 
result  was,  the  bank  failed,  and  caused  a  good  deal 
of  commercial  disaster.  About  this  time,  great  num- 


Personal  Memories.  287 


bers  of  state  banks  were  chartered,  and,  instead  of  a 
national  currency,  we  had  a  state  bank  paper.  Jack 
son,  to  avoid,  as  he  thought,  the  effects,  of  destroying 
the  United  States  Bank,  advised  the  state  banks  to 
issue  currency  and  aid  the  merchants.  This  they  did, 
and  within  three  years  the  banks  failed,  and  the  great 
est  commercial  disaster  the  country  had  ever  known 
took  place,  and  for  six  or  seven  years  the  commercial 
distress  was  greater  than  it  ever  has  been  before  or 
since.  Such  was  the  result  of  what  may  fairly  be 
termed  ignorance  and  presumption. 

Cincinnati  Collef/e,  which  had  been  founded  in  1818- 
1819,  was  revived  in  1835,  with  an  academic  and  med 
ical  department.  The  principal  founder  of  Cincinnati 
College  was  General  William  Lytle,  who  proposed  to 
some  of  the  citizens  that  they  should  finish  the  build 
ing  which  had  been  begun  for  the  Lancaster  Seminary, 
endow  it,  and  procure  a  college  charter.  Leading 
the  way  with  a  subscription  of  §11,500  (eleven  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars),  he  was  followed  by  as  many  as 
forty  respectable  citizens,  whose  contributions  made 
a  large  amount.  A  charter  was  obtained  which 

o 

gave  ample  power  to  appoint  professors,  organize  a 
faculty,  and  confer  all  the  degrees  which  are  usually 
conferred  in  any  college  or  university  in  the  United 
States.  Under  this  charter  classes  were  subsequently 
formed,  and  many  of  the  prominent  young  men  of 
Cincinnati  were  taught  and  graduated  in  that  institu 
tion.  A  few  years  afterward  the  college  was  aban 
doned,  and  only  a  primary  department  retained.  In 
the  revival  of  the  Cincinnati  College  there  was  insti 
tuted  a  medical  department,  a  law  department,  and  a 
faculty  of  arts.  The  medical  department  had  in  it 


288  Personal  Memories. 

three  of  the  most  eminent  medical  men  in  the  United 
States,  DR.  DRAKE,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  DR.  GROSS, 
and  DR.  WILLARD  PARKER.  The  last  two  are  still 
alive ;  Dr.  Gross,  the  most  eminent  surgeon  in  Phila 
delphia,  and  Dr.  Parker,  certainly  one  of  the  most 
eminent  physicians  in  New  York.  The  law  school 
had  been  founded  as  a  private  institution,  by  two  gen 
tlemen  of  the  bar,  Edward  King,  Esquire,  and  Timothy 
"Walker,  Esquire.  At  this  time,  1836,  General  King 
was  dead,  and  the  law  school  was  composed  Oifpro- 
fessors  JOHN  C.  WRIGHT,  JOSEPH  S.  BEXILAM,  and  TIMO 
THY  WALKER.  In  these  departments,  however,  I  had 
less  interest  than  in  the  literary  faculty,  of  which  I  was 
a  member.  Of  that  I  will  relate  some  facts  of  interest 
at  the  time,  but  which  may  not  now  be  remembered. 
The  literary  department  of  Cincinnati  College  ceased 
to  exist  after  three  or  four  years,  for  want  of  any  en 
dowment  to  sustain  it.  In  that  time,  however,  it  ex 
cited  great  interest  in  Cincinnati,  and  was  the  center 
of  all  literary  activity  there.  The  faculty  were  com 
posed  as  follows : 

W.  H.  McGuFFEY,  president,  and  professor  of  moral 
and  intellectual  philosophy;  ORMSBY  M.  MITCHELL, 
professor  of  mathematics  and  astronomy ;  ASA  DRURY, 
professor  of  ancient  languages;  CHARLES  L.  TELFORD, 
professor  of  rhetoric  and  belles-lettres;  EDWARD  D. 
MAXSFIELD,  professor  of  constitutional  law  and  his 
tory;  LYMAN  HARDIXG,  principal  of  the  preparatory 
department;  JOSEPH  HERROX,  principal  of  the  primary 
department. 

The  president,  REV.  W.  II.  McGuFFEY,  had  been 
several  years  a  professor  of  Miami  University,  Oxford, 
where  he  had  acquired  a  high  reputation,  and  after  he 


Personal  Memories.  289 

left  Cincinnati  became  president  of  Ohio  University, 
at  Athens,  and  subsequently  professor  of  intellectual 
philosophy  in  the  University  of  Virginia.  In  all  this 
career  his  reputation  was  constantly  increasing,  his 
usefulness  was  great,  and  his  ability  in  his  peculiar 
department  unsurpassed  by  any  man  in  the  United 
States.  Mr.  McGuffey  entered  Cincinnati  College  with 
the  full  knowledge  that  it  was  an  experimental  career, 
but  he  came  with  an  energy  and  a  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
education,  and  the  pursuit  of  high  and  noble  duties, 
which  are  rarely  met  with  and  are  sure  to  command 
success.  Hi's  mind  was  more  analytical  and  logical 
than  that  of  any  one  I  have  known  or  whose  works  I 
have  read.  In  his  discourses  and  lectures  before 
members  of  the  college  he  disentangled  difficulties, 
made  mysteries  plain,  and  brought  the  abstruse  and 
the  profound  within  the  reach  of  common  intellects. 
Hence  his  Sunday  morning  discourses  in  the  college 
chapel  were  always  numerously  attended,  and  his 
manner  of  treating  metaphysics  was  universally  popu 
lar.  I  thought  then,  and  think  now,  he  was  the  only 
sound  and  clear-headed  metaphysician  of  whom  it  has 
been  my  lot  to  know  anything.  One  reason  of  this 
was  that  he  was  a  practical  teacher  of  great  ability. 
In  fine,  he  was  naturally  formed  for  the  department  of 
philosophy,  and  in  Cincinnati  College  put  forth  with 
zeal  and  fervor  those  talents  which  were  peculiarly  his 
own. 

ORMSBY  M.  MITCHELL,  professor  of  mathematics, 
has  since  acquired  so  broad  a  reputation  as  to  reflect 
honor  upon  rather  than  have  derived  it  from  the  chair 
he  then  held.  lie  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point, 
always  distinguished  for  his  love  of  mathematics  and 


290  Personal  Memories. 

astronomy.  In  Cincinnati  he  had  been  several  years 
a  teacher,  and  no  one  ever  taught  more  successfully. 
In  the  college  he  took  almost  the  sole  charge  of  the 
department  of  physical  science,  and  for  several  years 
taught  large  classes  zealously  and  laboriously.  He  re 
mained  in  the  college  while  it  Avas  possible  to  hold  it 
together.  Soon  after  the  dissolution  of  Cincinnati 
College,  he  commenced  that  career,  both  civil  and 
military,  which  has  since  made  his  name  so  distin 
guished  and  widely  known.  Of  this  I  shall  speak 
again. 

The  REV.  ASA  DRURY,  professor  of  languages,  had 
both  the  knowledge  and  the  tact  of  an  excellent 
teacher,  and  both  his  pupils  and  colleagues  gave  tes 
timony  to  his  worth.  He  was  afterward  professor  in 
the  Baptist  Seminary,  Covington,  for  several  years. 

CHARLES  L.  TELFORD  was  not  a  common  man.  A 
graduate  of  Miami  University,  he  Avas  a  partner  of  Mr. 
Groesbeck  in  the  practice  of  the  laAV,  when  he  Avas 
elected  professor  of  rhetoric  and  belles-lettres.  Tall, 
erect,  dignified,  and  of  grave  manners,  he  Avas  of  manly 
carriage  and  commanding  presence.  Of  him  it  might 
be  said,  he  Avas  "  without  fear  and  without  reproach." 
He  Avas  a  fine  writer  and  a  graceful  orator,  but  died 
young,  soon  after  the  dissolution  of  the  college. 

With  such  a  faculty,  I  thought,  as  Dr.  Gross  did,  of 
the  medical  department,  "we  should  haA^e  succeeded," 
and  practically  we  did,  for  the  college  had  at  one  time 
as  many  as  one  hundred  and  sixty  pupils,  and  certainly 
received  the  encouragement  of  the  community.  But 
it  Avas  entirely  without  endowment,  and  without  any 
revenue  saATe  that  received  from  tuition.  Experience 
proved,  after  many  trials,  that  a  literary  institution 


Personal  Memories.  201 

can  not  be  sustained  without  some  endowment  for  its 
apparatus,  library,  and  incidental  expenses  ;  the  college, 
therefore,  as  a  college,  was  dissolved.  But  having  a 
very  valuable  lot,  it  still  does  a  good  work  in  the  law 
school  it  has  established,  and  in  courses  of  lectures  by 
able  men.  My  own  part  in  the  practical  teaching  of 
the  college  was  small,  having  no  share  in  its  class  in 
struction.  In  one  season,  however,  I  delivered  lectures 
on  the  Law  of  Equity  and  the  Constitution,  to  the  law 
class.  And  of  that  class  several  have  since  been  dis 
tinguished  in  public  life.  I  also  delivered  a  series  of 
popular  lectures  on  the  history  of  civilization.  Aside 
from  these  I  had  taken  part  in  the  labors  of  the  insti- 
tuiori.  Meeting  my  colleagues  in  faculty  meetings, 
and  in  social  intercourse,  we  became  intimate,  and 
some  of  the  pleasantest  and  most  instructive  hours  I 
ever  passed  were  spent  in  the  intellectual  and  brilliant 
society  of  the  professors  of  the  Cincinnati  College. 
We  were  all  in  the  early  prime  of  life,  labor  seemed 
light,  care  made  no  impression,  and  sorrow  was  less 
ened  by  the  hopes  of  the  future;  we  gathered  knowl 
edge  from  every  passing  event  and  pleasure  from  every 
opening  scene.  Such  periods  come  but  once,  they  make 
the  golden  thread  of  life,  they  give  brightness  to  its 
days,  and  linger  on  through  the  years  of  memory.  We 
never  met  without  pleasure,  nor  ever  parted  without 
regretting  the  shortness  of  the  hours.  To  have  such 
meetings  I  regarded  as  no  small  blessing,  and  to  have 
them  no  longer  is  among  my  deepest  regrets.  Con 
nected  in  some  measure  with  Cincinnati  College  was 
the  establishment  of  the 


which  I  was  editor.     As  this  paper  had  much  connec 
tion  with  the  public  interests,  and  did  more  than  any 


292  Personal  Memories. 

other  to  promote  the  literary  taste  and  talent  of  Cin 
cinnati,  I  shall  take  some  notice  of  its  history  and 
character.  The  Chronicle  was  founded  in  the  year 
1826.  The  Chronicle  was  published  by  the  Messrs. 
Buxton,  and  edited  at  that  time  by  Benjamin  Drake, 
Esq.  ^.Mr.  Drake  was  a  gentleman  of  ability  and  liter 
ary  taste.  As  a  writer  Mr.  Drake  did  much  for  the 
public  advantage  and  something  for  his  own  permanent 
reputation.  In  connection  with  myself  he  compiled 
Cincinnati  in  1826.  He  wrote  articles  for  the  Western 
Monthly  Magazine,  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  and 
other  periodicals.  Besides  these  he  wrote  the  "  Tales 
of  the  Queen  City"  "Life  of  Black  Hawk;'  and  the 
"Life  of  Tecumseh."  lie  was  thus  one  of  the  earliest 
pioneer  authors  in  Cincinnati.  The  Chronicle,  in  the 
next  twenty  years,  passed  through  many  transmuta 
tions,  having  at  one  time  ceased  to  exist  in  name, 
though  not  in  substance.  In  1834,  it  ceased  as  The 
Chronicle,  and  was  amalgamated  with  a  Jitenrry  peri 
odical  called  THE  CINCINNATI  MIRROR.  In  1836]  Drs. 
Drake  and  Rives,  of  the  medical  department  of 
Cincinnati  College  purchased  the  "Mirror"  of  "Flash 
and  Ryder,"  and  re-established  rlhe  Chronicle  on  its 
subscription  list.  The}^  got  a  journeyman  printer  who 
knew  nothing  about  publishing  to  print,  and  I,  who 
was  professor  of  history  and  law,  to  edit  it.  Both  of 
us  were  equally  ignorant  of  the  modern  art  of  getting 
up  newspapers,  and  especially  of  the  notable  plan  of 
printing  the  paper  to  puff  ourselves.  I  doubt  whether 
we  ever  mentioned  ourselves,  and  we  were  in  great 
fear  when  we  mentioned  the  college,  lest  we  should 
have  the  appearance  of  self-conceit.  Happily,  editors 
and  publishers  nowadays  have  got  rid  of  this  very 


Personal  Memories.  293 

imprudent  modesty,  and  the  generation  of  to-day  is 
wiser  than  the  generation  which  preceded  it.  The 
result  of  such  a  newspaper  speculation,  undertaken 
without  any  knowledge  of  the  business,  was  the  same 
as  that  of  all  similar  undertakings.  THE  MIRROR  had 
nominally  two  thousand  subscribers,  but  at  the  end  of 
six  months,  not  one-fourth  of  them  was  left,  and  not 
one-half  paid  their  subscriptions.  The  medical  gentle 
men  became  heartily  tired,  and  sold  the  paper  to  Messrs. 
Pugh  and  Dodd — the  former  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  and  the  latter  a  printer,  who  afterward 
became  a  well-known  hatter.  I  remained  editor,  as 
sisted  by  Mr.  Drake,  who  was  now  a  practicing  mem 
ber  of  the  bar.  In  this  new  era  of  the  Chronicle,  we 
found  ourselves  with  a  new  and  unexpected  embar 
rassment.  It  was  the  era  of  Abolition  mobs.  Just 
prior  to  this  time,  Dr.  Bailey,  afterward  editor  of  the 
National  Era  at  Washington,  published  an  Abolition 
paper,  of  which  Mr.  Pugh  was  the  printer.  An  anti- 
Abolition  mob,  composed  chiefly  of  the  most  respect 
able  young  men,  had  torn  down  Bailey's  press,  thrown 
it  into  the  Ohio  river,  and  demolished  the  materials. 
The  press  was  owned  by  Mr.  Pugh,  the  printer,  and 
now  that  the  Chronicle  had  passed  into  his  hands,  the 
populace  looked  upon  us  with  suspicion,  and  were 
disposed  to  visit  us  with  a  portion  of  their  wrath. 
This  made  no  difference  with  our  course,  but  retarded 
the  support  and  growth  of  the  paper.  It  looks  very 
strange  now,  in  the  great  change  which  the  public 
mind  and  nation  have  undergone,  but  it  is  true  that 
the  freedom  of  the  press  was  in  actual  danger  from 
the  overawing  influence  of  mobs.  These  mobs  were 
instigated  by  men  who  believed  that  society  was 


294  Personal  Memories. 

founded  only  upon  trade,  and  like  Demetrius,  the  sil 
versmith,  thought  their  craft  was  in  danger,  when  the 
worship  of  the  goddess  Diana  was  abridged.  The 
Diana  of  that  clay  was  slavery.  The  Cincinnati 
Chronicle  was  thoroughly  anti-slavery,  but  not  Abo- 
litionist,  so  called,  ll  was  ;i  \Vhig  paper  throughout 
its  whole  career,  having  the  confidence  and  support 
of  the  most  influential  people  in  the  city.  It  never 
hesitated  to  criticise  and  expose  the  conduct  of  the 
slaveholders  or  the  political  laws  which  maintained 
them,  but  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  establish  a 
separate  party  for  that  purpose.  In  the  meantime 
the  Chronicle  grew  slowly,  and  managed  by  hard  work 
to  maintain  itself.  In  December,  1839,  it  became  a 
daily  paper,  having  obtained  the  subscription  list  of 
the  WHIG,  founded  by  Major  Conover,  and  then  edited 
by  Henry  E.  Spencer,  Esq.  The  subscription  list  of 
both  papers  was  small.  The  newspaper  publishers  of 
this  day  who  inform  the  public  (which  the  public  very 
courteously  believe)  that  they  commenced  with  thou 
sands  and  progressed  with  tens  of  thousands  of  sub 
scribers,  will  doubtless  be  astonished  to  learn  that  we 
commenced  the  Daily  Chronicle  with  two  hundred 
and  fifty  and  terminated  the  year  with  six  hundred 
of  what  the  world  calls  patrons.  Mr.  Pugh,  the  pro. 
prietor,  and  myself  had  a  hard  contest  with  the  world 
against  two  prevalent  ideas.  One  was  slavery,  and 
the  other  was  liquor.  We  were  utterly  opposed  to 
slavery  in  the  day  when  two-thirds  of  the  community 
were  for  it,  and  two-thirds  of  the  remainder  compro 
mised  with  it.  We  both  lived  to  see  its  entire  de 
struction  in  this  land  of  the  free,  as  it  is  called, 
free  in  fact,  standing  out  beforo  the  world  the  only 
successful  republic.  We  both  ut.erly  opposed  the 


Personal  Memories.  295 


liquor  trade  and  (lie  dram-shops.  Pugh  would  not 
allow  a  single  advertisement  of  any  place  where  liquor 
was  sold  or  drank.  The  consequence  was  a  great  loss 
ef  business  from  the  liquor  sellers  and  their  friends. 
But  in  all  other  respects  the  Chronicle  was  popular 
and  prosperous.  We  were  warm  Whigs — the  friends 
and  advocates  of  morals,  religion,  science,  and  liter 
ature.  I  think  the  first  "Price  Current"  in  Cincin 
nati  was  published  in  our  office  by  Mr.  Peabody,  and 
Mr.  Richard  Smith  began  his  long  and  honorable  ca 
reer  as  a  newspaper  man  in  our  office.  He  soon  after 
published  the  Price  Current  of  the  Merchants'  Ex 
change,  and  became  superintendent  of  that  institution. 
This  was  a  good  practical  education  for  the  part  he 
has  so  long  held  in  the  GAZETTE.  At  the  same  time 
Mr.  Boardman,  who  has  so  long  conducted  the  High 
land  News,  was  a  printer  in  the  office,  and  several 
other  publishers  of  newspapers  graduated  from  it. 

The  Ckroriide  had  an  able  and  brilliant  corps  of  con 
tributors,  as  the  reader  will  readily  see  when  I  men 
tion  their  names.  MRS.  STOWE,  then  Miss  Harriet 
Beecher,  published  her  first  stories  in  it ;  Mr.  (now 
DR)  BLACKWELL  wrote  for  it;  so  did  JAMES  II.  PER 
KINS,  MRS.  SIGOURNEY,  MRS.  DOUGLAS,  of  Chillicothe, 
MARY  DE  FOREST,  LEWIS  J.  CIST,  and  several  others 
who  have  since  been  well  known.  As  a  paper,  the 
Chronicle  was  a  success,  but  it  became  involved  in  pe 
cuniary  trouhles,  and  was  at  length  merged  in  the 
Atlas,  a  paper  begun  by  Nathan  Guilford,  and,  after 
three  or  four  years'  existence,  died.  To  edit  the 
Chronicle  was  to  me  a  pleasant  business.  It  continued 
about  fifteen  years,  and  I  look  back  upon  my  part  in 
that  paper  as  alike  useful  to  the  public  and  honorable 
to  mvself. 


296  Personal  Memories. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Southern  Railroad — My  Article  and  Speech — Public 
Meeting  in  Cincinnati — Drake — J.  8.  Williams — 
Judge  Hall — General  Harrison — Knoxville  Conven 
tion —  Ohio  Delegates — Scenery  on  the  Tennessee  River 
—  Cincinn  ati  Mob —  Co  art-house  Meeting —  Com  mer- 
cial  Crisis  of  1837 — First  Observatory  at  Ludlow  Sta 
tion — Mitchell's  Observatory. 

THE  history  of  the  Southern  Railroad — a  work 
which  has  recently  excited  much  attention,  and  is  still 
engaging  the  public  mind — is  curious  and  instructive. 
It  is  now  more  than  forty  years  since  the  idea  of  such 
a  work  was  formed  and  advocated,  and  yet  while 
other  works  of  far  less  importance  have  been  con 
structed  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  this  great 
work  remained  unfinished.  It  is  now  time  to  give  its 
history,  that  whatever  of  merit  or  demerit  there  may 
be  in  it  may  be  traced  to  the  originators. 

Up  to  the  year  1825,  the  only  idea  of  great  internal 
improvement  in  the  West  was  that  of  canals.  In  that 
year,  however  (1825),  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
Railroad  was  completed,  and  a  new  and  extraordinary 
era  in  locomotion  began,  which  has  revolutionized  the 
modes  of  carriage,  and  given  a  new  impulse  to  all  the 
modes  of  commerce.  In  America,  the  new  idea  was 
taken  up  with  zeal,  and  the  construction  of  railroads 
began.  Among  the  earliest  of  these  were  those  at 
tempting  to  pierce  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and 


Personal  Memories.  297 


connect  the  cities  of  the  Atlantic  with  those  of  the 
valley  of   the  Ohio.     Their   progress,  however,   was 
slow.     The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  which  was 
commejicedjn  1828,  was  only  completed  in  1853— a 
P  enodoj  t  w  e  n  ty  -  Jive,  years.    The  ]S"ew  York  and  Erie 
Railroad  was  begun   in   1835,  but  only  completed  in 
18»2— seventeen  years.    In  1832-1833,  the  legislatures 
of  Ohio  and  Indiana  granted  several  charters  for  rail 
roads,  many  of  which  have  since  been  made.     I  be 
came  interested  in  this  new  mode  of  commercial  enter 
prise,  and  in  August,  1836,  published  in  the  WESTERN 
MONTHLY  MAGAZINE,  then  edited  by  JUDGE  HALL,  an 
article  advocating  a  railroad  from  Cincinnati  to  the    ir*: 
South.     My  idea  was  to  take  the  route  to  Knoxville, 
Tennessee,  and  thence  by  a  road  through  Tennessee 
and  Alabama  to  Mobile.     That  article   was   written 
before,  but  not  published  until  after  the  first  meeting 
held  in  Cincinnati  on  that  subject.     A  meeting  had  ,  ] 
.  been  held  ^t  JParis,_  Kentucky,  to  take  steps  toward  , 
constructing  a  railroad  from  Cincinnati  to  that  fertile 
region ;  but  the  plan  of  a  railroad  to  the  South  At 
lantic  was  first  puplicly  proposed  at  a  meeting  held  in  I 
Cincinnati,  and  suggested  by  Dr.  Daniel  Drake',,    This 
meeting  was  held  at  the  Commercial  Exchange,  Front     i 
street,  in  the- summer  of  1835,  for  the  purpose  of  pro-     / 
"moting  the  railroad  to  Paris,  Kentucky.     When  the    | 
proceedings  relative  to  that   subject  were  concluded, 
Dr.  Drake  offered  a  resolution,  which  was  unanimously 
adopted,  to  inquire  into  the  advantage  and  practicabilr 
ity  of  a  railroad  to  South  Carolina.     A  committee  of 
three  was  appointed,  to  report  at  a  subsequent  meet 
ing.     This  committee  consisled  of  DR.  DANIEL  DRAKE, 
THOMAS  W.  BAKEWELL,  and  JOHN  S.WILLIAMS.    This 


298  Personal  Memories. 

meeting,  and  the  resolutions,  were  the  initial  steps  in 
the  phm  of  constructing  the  great  railway  between 
Cinciiiiuiti  and  Charleston,  which  is  m>\v  being  com 
pleted.  The  adjourned  meeting  of  citizens  was  held 
at  the  Exchange,  on  the  15th  of  August,  1835,  when 
Dr.  Drake  read  an  elaborate  and  argumentative  report, 
placing  the  whole  subject  in  a  clear  and  conclusive 
light.  His  report  was  followed  by  speeches  from  Mr. 
John  S.  Williams  and  myself.  I  traced  more  in  de 
tail  the  route  through  Knoxville  to  Charleston.  The 
proceedings,  report,  and  speeches  were  ordered  to  be 
published,  and  I  prepared  a  pamphlet,  accompanied  by 
a  map  entitled  "  Railroad  from  the  banks  of  the  Ohio 
river  to  the  tide  waters  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia."  A 
standing  committee  of  inquiry  and  correspondence  was 
apppointed  by  the  meeting.  That  committee  consisted 
of  GEN.  WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  JUDGE  JAMES  HALL, 
DR.  DANIEL  DRAKE,  EDWARD  D.  MANSFIELD,  Esq.,  GEN. 
JAMES  TAYLOR,  of  Newport,  Kentucky,  DR.  JOHN  W. 
KING,  of  Covington,  Kentucky,  and  GEORGE  A.  DUNN, 
Esq.,  of  Lawrenceburg,  Indiana.  I  mention  this  com 
mittee  particularly,  because  they  did  much  to  excite  a 
zeal  in  this  cause,  both  North  and  South,  and  diffused 
information  concerning  both  sections  through  these 
wide  and  far  separated  regions  of  country.  Being  ap 
pointed  secretary  of  the  committee,  I  know  that  an 
extensive  correspondence  passed  through  their  hands, 
and  that  they  did  no  small  amount  of  service  in  devel 
oping  the  knowledge  of  our  resources,  and  awaking 
that  zeal  for  public  works  which  has  ever  since  pre 
vailed.  It  is  well  known  with  how  much  zeal  and 
earnestness  the  citizens  of  Charleston,  Savannah,  and 
Augusta,  and  the  states  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 


Personal  Memories.  299 


adopted  this  scheme,  and  with  what  energy  they  car 
ried  it  out.  The  great  system  of  railways  which  now 
exists  in  those  states  had  chiefly  for-  its  hasis  the  con 
struction  of  that  great  work,  which  should  connect 
them  with  the  great  Valley  of  the  Ohio.  It  is  now 
forty-three  years  since  this  plan  was  conceived,  and  the 
public  mind  interested  in  the  subject,  and  yet  the  South 
ern  road  is  only  now  draAving  toward  completion.  I  was 
repeatedly  asked  if  I  thought  this  work  was  possible, 
and  when  it  might  be  done.  I  uniformly  replied  that 
it  Avas  not  only  possible,  but  certain,  and  a  necessity  to 
the  country.  In  1863,  a  great  Southwestern  conven 
tion  was  called  and  held  at  Knoxville  on  this  subject, 
in  which  were  delegates  from  nine  states,  to  wit :  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  ^Nbrtk  Caro 
lina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Alabama.  There 
was  intense  excitement  in  the  country  on  this  subject, 
and  the  convention  was  a  numerous  and  able  body. 
The  delegates  who  attended  from  this  region  were 
Gov.  VANCE,  DR.  DRAKE,  ALEXANDER  McGREW,  CRAFTS 
J.  A\TRIGHT,  and  myself,  from  Ohio  ;  GEN.  JAMES  TAY 
LOR,  M.  31.  BENTON,  and  J.  G.  ARNOLD,  from  Newport 
and  Covington.  The  debates  and  proceedings  of  the 
convention  at  Knoxville  were  quite  exciting  and  very 
interesting.  The  only  serious  controversy  at  that  time 
was  in  regard  to  the  termini  at  the  South  and  at  the 
OliiQ  river.  The  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  dclcga-" 
tions  each  claimed,  with  great  pertinacity,  that  they 
had  the  best  route.  But  time  has  settled  all  these 
things.  Each  of  these  states,  as  well  as  Alabama  and 
Tennessee,  have  completed  their  lines  of  railroad,  so 
that  they  all  concentrate  at  Chattanooga,  on  the  Ten 
nessee.  Hence,  when  the  city  of  Cincinnati  deter- 


300  Personal  Memories. 

mined  the  terminus  of  the  Southern  Railroad  in  the 
South,  Chattanooga  was  preferred  to  Knoxville. 

I  must  now  return  to  my  interesting  journey  through 
the  South,  with  the  condition  and  appearance  of  things 
in  the  South  at  that  time.  Six  of  us,  including  Gov. 
Vance  and  Gen.  Taylor,  left  Cincinnati  in  a  stage, 
passing  through  Lexington,  Lancaster,  and  Crab 
Orchard,  on  what  was  called  the  Ridge  road.  We 
crossed  the  Cumberland  river  at  Cumberland  Ford,  and 
Cumberland  Mountain  at  Cumberland  Gap.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  the  country,  except  in  the  Blue  Grass 
Region  around  Lexington,  was  thinly  settled,  and 
showed  110  signs  of  improvement.  At  Cumberland 
Ford  I  was  struck  by  seeing  coal  banks  of  great  thick 
ness,  but  I  soon  found  that  this  was  nothing  uncom 
mon,  for  we  were  now  in  that  great  coal  district  which 
extends  southeasterly  from  Trumbull  county,  Ohio,  to 
Central  Alabama,  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Appala 
chian  Mountains.  We  passed  through  Cumberland  Gap, 
and  then  over  Clinch  Mountain  ;  crossing  the  Clinch  and 
Powell  rivers,  and  arriving  at  Bean's  Station,  forty  miles 
east  of  Knoxville.  This  was  quite  a  noted  place,  be 
ing  the  night  stopping  place  for  the  great  stage  line 
which  passed  through  the  valley  of  Virginia  to  the 
South.  The  change  which  has  since  taken  place  will 
be  seen  in  the  simple  fact  that  this  very  route  is  now 
taken  by  the  Great  Southwestern  Railroad  Line  which 
runs  from  Richmond,  Virginia,  to  Mobile,  Alabama. 
At  Bean's  Station,  where  we  lodged  at  night,  we  found 
ourselves  in  a  quandary.  The  stages  on  the  Virginia 
line  arrived,  crowded  with  passengers,  and  could  not 
take  us  to  Knoxville.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  Some 
enterprising  person  in  the  party  found  that  we  could 


Personal  Memories.  801 

hire  a  six-horse  wagon  to  take  us  into  Enoxville,  so, 
next  morning,  we  embarked  in  the  wagon  with  our 
trunks  and  valises  on  the  floor  with  plenty  of  straw. 
"We  had  fine  horses,  with  a  Tennessee  driver  more  than 
six  feet  tall,  with  a  red  shirt.  We  talked  and  sang, 
told  anecdotes,  and  looked  with  surprise  on  what  has 
been  called  "  The  Switzerland  of  the  South."  Arrived 
at  Knoxville,  Dr.  Drake,  two  or  three  others,  and  my 
self,  were  received  into  the  house  of  a  private  gentle 
man,  and  hospitably  entertained.  That  night  we  had 
a  splendid  exhibition  of  natural  phenomena,  in  a  vio- 
lent  thunder-storm.  The  vivid  lightning  lit  up  the 
hills  and  valley  of  the  Holston,  which  were  again 
plunged  in  utter  darkness.  After  the  convention,  the 
party  separated.  Dr.  Drake  and  myself  took  the  stage 
to  Kingston,  on  the  Tennessee,  about  forty  miles  be 
low  Knoxville,  where  we  found  a  small,  new  steamer 
ready  to  descend  the  river.  We  took  passage  in  her, 
with  two  or  three  other  passengers,  and  had  a  novel 
and  delightful  trip  to  Alabama. 

I  seldom  see  any  notices  of  this  region  and  its 
scenery,  although  the  war  has  revealed  to  the  country 
the  immediate  section  round  Chattanooga.  I  will, 
therefore,  describe  the  Tennessee  from  Kingston  to 
Triana,  where  we  landed.  What  is  now  Chattanooga 
was  then  Ross'  Landing  of  the  Cherokecs,  who  then 
occupied  Northern  Georgia.  Ross  was  a  chief  of  the 
tribe,  as,  I  believe,  his  son  is  now.  The  Tennessee, 
for  a  hundred  miles  below  Knoxville,  passed  through  a 
mountain  country,  and  in  some  places  has  forced  its 
way  through  the  mountains.  Below  Chattanooga,  is 
Lookout  Mountain,  where  Hooker  fought  his  battle 
above  the  clouds.  The  river  winds  its  way  round  the 


302  Personal  Memories. 

base  of  Lookout.  On  the  opposite  side,  and  below, 
arc  Wai  den  and  Raccoon  Mountains.  After  passing 
the  base  of  Lookout,  about  ten  miles  below  the  Ten 
nessee  seems  to  break  through  Raccoon  Mountain,  not 
unlike  the  Shenaiidoah  at  Harper's  Ferry,  or  the 
Hudson  at  West  Point.  The  stream  here  is  rapidly 
compressed  to  seventy  yards  in  width,  and  whirlpools 
are  formed  over  the  rocks  below.  This  passage  is 
called  "  The  Suck  of  the  Tennessee,"  and  has  always 
been  regarded  as  a  remarkable  place. 

It  seemed  as  though  there  were  no  room  for  our  little 
steamer  to  pass,  but  by  skillful  pilotage  we  glided 
through.  Marvelous  stories  were  told  of  "  the  suck  " 
in  early  times.  It  was  said  that  the  water  was  so 
compressed  that  it  would  bear  an  ax.  A  few  miles  be 
low  this  we  passed  out  of  the  mountain  scenery.  Jef 
ferson  said  that  it  was  worth  a  voyage  from  Europe  to 
see  the  passage  of  the  Shenaiidoah,  and  if  so,  it  is 
worth  a  great  deal  more  to  see  the  "  Suck  of  the  Ten 
nessee."  I  have  visited  the  most  celebrated  scenes  in 
our  country,  and  I  think  that  the  mountain  scenery  of 
Tennessee  is  fully  equal  to  any  other.  Below  "the 
suck  "  the  river  broadens  and  passes  into  a  more  level 
country.  The  horizontal  limestone  stratum  begins  to 
appear  and  is  worn  away  at  the  base  by  the  river, 
leaving  little  caverns,  while  the  bank  above  is  sur 
mounted  by  foliage  and  flowers.  This  formation  con 
tinues  for  a  great  distance,  but  when  we  reached  Ala 
bama,  rock  cliffs  began  to  appear,  which  in  some  cases 
were  colored  red  by  the  drippings  of  iron  ore  and  pre 
sented  a  variegated  appearance.  Soon  after  this  we 
got  into  the  cotton  country,  and  landed  at  Triana, 
whence  we  proceeded  to  Huntsville.  It  was  then  a 


Personal  Memories.  303 


small  place,  but  in  a  very  beautiful  country,  inhabited 
by  pleasant  and  hospitable  people.  Here  we  remained 
two  or  three  clays,  and  the  season  being  July,  we 
visited  the  summer  resort  of  the  Iluntsville  gentle 
men,  MOXTESAXO.  This  is  a  high  ridge,  with  a  bluff 
termination,  being  apparently  the  southern  terminus 
of  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  I  had  passed  the  Allc- 
ghanies  in  many  places  of  their  eastern  range,  and  now 
stood  on  the  southern  end,  where  the  mountains 
seemed  to  say :  "  I  will  go  no  farther,  but  rest  in  the 
contemplation  of  this  beautiful  country." 

Here  the  gentlemen  of  Iluntsville  had  built  on  the 
summit  log  houses,  and  enjoyed,  in  the  midst  of  sum 
mer,  cool  air. 

From  Huntsville,  we  went  by  stage  through  Nash 
ville  and  Lexington  to  Cincinnati.  Arrived  there,  I  was 
astonished  to  find  a  new  form  of  modern  civilization, 
and  a  new  way  to  please  the  southern  people.  While 
AI2J??re  at  Kuoxviilc,  trying  to  secure  the  Union  By 
links  of  iron,  some  of  the  young  men  of  Cincinnati 
had  made  a  mob,  and,  as  I  have  before  stated,  tore  down 
the  abolition  press  of  Dr.  Bailey  and  thrown  it  into  the 
Ohio.  On  this,  the  leading  people  of  Cincinnati  found 
themselves  in  a  predicament.  A  mob  was  certainly 
not  a  way  to  recommend  the  community,  and  yet  to 
tolerate  abolition  was  not  the  way  to  please  the  South. 
So  a  great  public  meeting  was  held  at  Lower  Market, 
just  before  we  returned.  The  result  of  the  meeting, 
however,  was  really  nothing,  the  party  of  order  not 
being  able  fully  to  denounce  the  mob,  and  the  mob  not 
being  willing  to  defend  themselves,  so  nothing  was 
clone.  Soon  after  my  return,  Mr.  Hammond,  Mr. 
Chase,  a  few  others,  and  myself,  determined  to  hold  a 


304  Personal  Memories. 

public  meeting  to  vindicate  our  own  opinions.  "We 
therefore  called  an  afternoon  meeting  at  the  court 
house.  The  affair  was  a  curious  one. 

We  did  not  expect  to  announce  opinions  for  the 
whole  city,  hut  to  give  our  own  view  of  the  subject. 
We  did  not,  therefore,  expect  any  interruption  or 
opposition.  What,  therefore,  was  our  surprise  to  find 
the  court-house  crowded,  and  among  the  crowd,  the 
leading  men  of  the  city.  We  saw  at  once,  that  we 
were  checkmated,  and  that  like  the  market-house 
meeting,  the  result  would  be  a  neutral  compound.  A 
large  committee  was  appointed  to  propose  resolutions. 
I  was  upon  that  committee,  and  as  I  was  almost  alone 
in  my  views,  I  agreed  to  bring  in  a  single  resolution, 
condemning  mobs  in  general  terms,  and  the  meeting 
passed  off  in  an  amiable  mood.  Since  then  I  have 
thought  that  I  wanted  moral  courage  in  that  meeting. 
After  the  experience  of  forty  years,  I  think  the  true 
plan  would  have  been  to  have  made  a  minority  report, 
expressing  fully  my  opposition  to  the  pro-slavery 
movements  of  the  day.  This  would  have  raised  a 
storm,  but  it  would  have  made  discussion,  and  brought 
people  to  a  full  consideration  of  the  subject.  After  events 
showed  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  compromise, 
and  we  had  at  last  to  do  what  we  should  have  done  at 
first — to  take  an  uncompromising  stand  against  Slav 
ery  ;  but  Providence  vindicated  its  own  ways,  as  the 
history  of  subsequent  events  has  shown.  For  the  free 
states  could  not  and  would  not  conquer  slavery  in  1836 
as  they  did  in  1860-1865. 

In  the  following  year,  1837,  Jackson's  schemes  of 
finance  reached  their  climax,  in  the  worst  and  most 
complete  commercial  convulsion  which  has  ever  been 


Personal  Memories.  305 

experienced  in  this  country.  We  have  already  noticed 
his  attack  upon  and  overthrow  of  the  United  States 
Bank,  but  since  the  business  of  the  government  must 
be  conducted  through  financial  agents  of  some  kind, 
he  was  obliged  to  find  a  substitute  for  the  national 
banks.  This  he  did  in  the  state  banks.  lie  encouraged 
them  to  increase  their  loans ;  the  natural  consequence 
followed — state  banks  and  corporate  banks  were  mul 
tiplied;  they  had  the  government  deposits,  and  they 
were  on  the  high  tide  of  prosperity,  apparently.  Specu 
lation  was  rife  in  all  departments  of  business.  Soon 
after  this,  Jackson  issued  his  specie  circular,  which 
required  the  receivers  of  land  offices,  at  a  time  when 
the  sales  of  public  lauds  were  great,  to  receive  pay 
ment  only  in  specie  or  its  equivalent.  The  banks  were 
then  inflated  to  their  utmost  extent,  and  the  effect  of 
this  circular  was  to  alarm  and  endanger  them.  In  the 
meantime  there  came  another  danger.  In  1832,  Clay 
and  Callionn,  to  avert  the  effects  of  nullification,  made 
the  compromise  tariff. 

The  tariff  was  to  be  gradually  reduced  until  it 
reached  an  average  of  twenty  per  cent.  The  process 
of  reduction  was  going  on  from  1832  to  1837.  The 
immediate  result  of  this  was  to  increase  our  imports 
of  foreign  goods,  so  that  by  1837  the  balance  of  trade 
had  become  greatly  against  us:  Thus,  the  reader  can 
see  that  the  reduction  of  the  tariff  on  one  hand,  and 
Jackson's  experiment  in  finance  on  the  other,  had, 
brought  to  the  country  such  a  crisis  that  it  was  impos 
sible  to  avoid  commercial  disaster.  It  came  and 
brought  ruin  to  thousands.  It  Avas  of  the  same  nature 
and  brought  on  by  almost  the  same  causes  as  the  great 
commercial  convulsion  of  1819-1822.  At  that  time, 


306  Personal  Memories. 

1819,  Cincinnati  was  almost  sold  out  to  its  creditors, 
but  now,  although  hundreds  were  bankrupt,  the  city 
was  in  a  better  condition  to  bear  it,  and  after  a  short 
time  continued  to  prosper.  The  effect  of  the  convul 
sion  of  1837  continued  until  1842,  whan  a  protective 
tariff  revived  the  industry  of  the  country,  and  placed 
its  commercial  interests  upon  a  more  solid  foundation. 
The  commercial  convulsion  of  1837  and  1839  operated 
upon  the  country  like  violent  medicine  upon  the  indi 
vidual.  It  gave  pain  and  suffering,  but  it  cleansed  and 
purified  the  commercial  system,  so  that  when  its  revi 
val  came  it  was  restored  to  greater  strength  and  ac 
tivity.  The  tariff  being  reduced  to  its  minimum, 
foreign  goods  had  overflowed  the  country,  and  the  in 
debtedness  to  Europe  caused  a  suspension  of  the  banks, 
and  almost  a  suspension  of  commercial  credit.  In  this 
situation,  necessity  compelled  the  nation  to  adopt,  as 
we  have  said,  a  protective  tariff.  All  theories  had  to 
give  way  to  practical  experience.  Under  the  new  tar 
iff,  the  business  of  the  country  rapidly  revived.  Jjjot- 
withstanding  the  Democrats,  in  1846,  remodeled  the 
tariff,  they  never  reduced  it  to  anything  like  its  former 
low  point.  The  tariff  of  1846  was  a  horizontal  tariff; 
that  is,  specific  duties  were  abolished,  almost  all  arti 
cles  were  placed  in  three  or  four  great  classes.  The 
duties  on  nearly  all  articles  which  came  in  competition 
with  American  manufacturers,  were  respectively  25, 
30,  and  35  per  cent.  These  were  apparently  sufficient, 
but,  nevertheless,  foreign  manufactures,  especially 
English,  continued  to  be  imported  in  large  quantities. 
For  the  next  twenty  years,  until  the  close  of  the  late 
war,  the  contest  between  foreign  and  American  manu 
factures,  continued  with  doubtful  results.  The  war 


Personal  Memories.  307 

tariff'  of  1862  gave  a  final  blow  to  foreign  competition, 
and  now  the  industry  of  America  is  triumphant  at 
home,  and  promises  to  gain  an  ascendency  throughout 
the  world. 

i     Tn  the  mpaniij**^-jtrer(r-T^  of -183 7, 

say  upto_jL848T  tliG— growth  of  Cincinnati  continued 
with  great  rapidity.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  com 
mercial  depression,  and  the  want  of  money  did  not 
impede  building,  on  the  contrary,  it  aided  Cincinnati. 

Many  emigrants  from  New  York  and  Eastern  cit 
ies  came  to  Cincinnati  to  begin  a  new  career,  where 
they  could  live  on  less  means  and  have  an  equal 
chance  in  the  future.  The  prices  of  provisions  and 
all  articles  for  housekeeping  had  fallen  very  much, 
and  it  seemed  like  a  return  to  primitive  times.  In 
this  condition  of  things,  the  new  emigrants  required 
many  houses,  and  the  mechanics  and  lot-holders  man 
aged  to  build  thousands  of  houses  in  three  or  four 
years,  almost  without  money.  Much  of  it  was  actu 
ally  done  by  barter,  the  land-owners,  the  hardware 
men,  the  lumber  men,  mechanics,  and  grocers  inter- 
trading  with  each  other,  so  that  much  less  money  was 
required.  For  several  years  the  city  grew  rapidly. 
But  when  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country 
seemed  to  be  greater,  the  growth  of  Cincinnati  was 
actually  less,  as  the  reader  may  verify  by  referring  to 
the  census  returns. 

Although  not  exactly  in  the  order  of  time,  I  will 
here  relate  the  history  of  the  Cincinnati  Observatory, 
because  connected  with  something  which  occurred 
many  years  before,  and  also  with  the  progress  of  sci 
ence  in  this  country.  I  have  already  related  the  ap 
pointment  of  my  father  as  Surveyor-General  of  the 


308  Personal  Memories. 

United  States,  and  the  object  of  that  appointment, 
which  was  to  establish  meridian  lines  as  the  basis  of 
public  services.  This  could  not  be  done  except  by  a 
man  of  science,  with  suitable  astronomical  instru 
ments.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  first  real  observa 
tory  in  the  United  States  was  established  in  my  father's 
house  at  Ludlow  Station.  The  history  of  it  was  this  : 
My  father  informed  Mr.  Jefferson  that  the  meridian 
line  could  not  be  run  without  certain  astronomical  in 
struments,  and  that  these  instruments  could  not  be  had 
in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Jefferson  said  that  congress 
had  made  no  appropriation  for  that  object,  but  that 
he  (the  President)  had  a  contingent  fund  out  of  which 
he  would  procure  these  instruments.  Mr.  Gallatin, 
then  secretary  of  the  treasury,  wrote  to  Tronghton, 
mathematical  instrument  maker,  London,  for  the  fol- 
lowingly  instruments :  First,  a  three-foot  long  reflect 
ing  telescope,  mounted  in  the  best  manner,  with  lever 
motion;  secondly,  a  thirty-inch  portable  transit  in 
strument,  which  answered  the  purpose  of  an  equal 
altitude  instrument  and  theodolite;  thirdly,  an  astro 
nomical  pendulum  clock;  fourthly,  several  astronom 
ical  books.  These  instruments  and  books  cost  $1,054, 
but  would  cost  four  times  that  now,  for  they  were 
very  excellent  of  their  kind.  They  were  ordered  as 
early  as  1803,  but  did  not  arrive  until  the  autumn  of 
1806,  and  were  set  up  at  Ludlow  Station  in  the  spring 
of  1806.  They  were  used  in  making  a  great  number 
of  astronomical  observations  and  calculations  not 
within  the  duties  of  the  present  surveyor-general,  but 
then  desired  and  ordered  by  the  government. 

Among  other  things,  he   observed  and   calculated 
the  orbit  of  the  great  comet  in  1807.     This  calculation 


Personal  Memories.  309 


was  published  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Connecticut 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  lie  was  directed  by 
the  government  to  ascertain  the  latitude  and  longitude 
of  various  places;  and  thus  the  United  States  sur 
veys  became  the  means  of  advancing  astronomical 
science  in  this  country.  The  instruments  used  have 
since  been  deposited  in  the  philosophical  department 
of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point,  where  they  remain  as  memorials  of  the  first 
observatory  in  the  United  States.  In  connection  with 
this,  I  must  mention  the  erection  of  the  first  Cincin 
nati  Observatory.  This  was  solely  the  creation  of 
Ormsby  M.  Mitchell,  who,  having  been  a  professor  of 
mathematics  and  astronomy,  and  an  active  teacher, 
formed  the  idea  of  erecting  an  observatory  on  Mount 
Adams.  He  had  a  very  superior  mind,  and  was  fre 
quently  thinking  of  various  projects.  He  became  en 
thusiastic  about  an  observatory,  and  without  any 
means  save  his  own  exertions,  proceeded  to  work  up 
that  project.  He  talked  and  lectured  until  he  got 
many  people  interested  in  it.  He  got  the  late  Nich 
olas  Longworth  to  grant  him  a  site  for  a  building  on 
Mount  Adams,  and  then  got  subscriptions  for  the 
building,  The  shares  were  at  first  §25  each,  but  the 
project  was  popular,  and  he  finally  obtained  the 
means  to  buy  the  great  telescope  and  erect  the  build 
ing.  He  went  over  to  Europe  to  purchase  the  tele 
scope.  When  there  he  found  that  the  best  makers  of 
astronomical  instruments  were  at  the  Franenhofer  In 
stitute,  Munich.  It  was  made  by  Messrs.  Mertz  & 
Mayer,  and  co.-t  nearly  §10,000.  It  was  at  that  time 
the  largest  telescope  in  America— -its  focal  length  be 
ing  17J  feet,  and  the  diameter  of  the  object-classes  12 


310  Personal  Memories. 

inches.  In  the  meanwhile  Mitchell  had  the  observa 
tory  building  erected  on  the  site  given  by  Mr.  Long- 
worth.  This  whole  work,  of  which  Mitchell  was  the 
director  and  originator,  was  probably  the  first  and 
only  purely  scientific  enterprise  literally  carried  out 
by  the  people. 

When  it  was  finished  Mitchell  determined  to  have 
a  popular  inauguration.  To  do  this,  he  invited  John 
Quincy  Adams  to  pronounce  an  oration.  He  accepted 
the  invitation,  came  to  Cincinnati,  and  delivered  a 
splendid  discourse,  of  which  only  such  a  man  was 
capable.  An  immense  crowd  and  procession  attended 
the  inauguration,  and  it  is,  perhaps,  the  only  instance 
in  the  world  in  which  an  observatory  or  any  merely 
scientific  work  was  made  the  occasion  of  a  popular 
celebration.  When  the  work  was  completed  Mitchell 
resided  there  with  his  family,  and  for  several  years 
continued  to  make  astronomical  observations.  In  the 
meantime  he  invented  two  instruments  to  record  the 
observations  of  right  ascension  and  the  difference  in 
declination.  They  were  very  ingenious,  and  furnished 
observations  of  accuracy  never  attainable  from  any 
previous  instruments. 

Alas  for  Mitchell !  He  was  one  of  those  whom  I  have 
never  ceased  to  regret.  He  was  a  man  of  genius  and 
a  man  of  worth.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  volun 
teers  for  the  Union,  and  among  the  most  successful 
officers,  until  he  fell  a  victim  to  disease,  at  Beaufort, 
South  Carolina.  He  was  killed  by  that  civil  war, 
whose  real  authors  have  never  been  hanged,  although, 
in  all  the  records  of  time,  there  was  never  a  criminal 
who  more  deserved  to  be. 


Personal  Memories.  311 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Political  Campaign  of  1840 — Van  Buren — Washington 
Scandal — Break  between  Calhoun  and  Jackson — Van 
Bur  en9  s  Success — domination  of  Harrison — Log  Cab 
ins  and  Hard  Cider — Glee  Songs — Defeat  of  Vo,n 
Biiren — Salt  Biver — Lamentations. 

I  SHALL  now  give  my  memories  of  the  political 
campaign  of  1840.  Its  results  have  entered  into  his 
tory  ;  but  not  so  the  thousand  incidents  and  singular 
scenes  in  that  remarkable  conflict.  As  a  purely  civil  and 
political  movement,  it  has  no  parallel  in  my  memory, 
and  was  characteristic  of  what  a  free  people,  governed 
by  law,  can  do  without  imperiling  law  or  committing 
violence.  It  was  at  once  amusing  and  serious,  trifling 
and  important.  It  was  a  whole  nation  enacting  what 
was  a  comedy,  but  might  have  been  a  tragedy.  It  was 
not  a  conflict  of  great  principles,  such  as  resulted  in 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  nullification,  secession,  or  a 
foreign  war.  It  was  really  a  conflict  about  the  ma 
terial  interests  of  the  people — in  fact,  about  their 
pockets.  The  causes  of  this  contest  I  have  partly  re 
lated  in  the  account  of  the  overthrow  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  and  the  ultimate  suspension  of  the  state 
banks.  But  they  can  not  be  fully  understood  without 
going  a  little  more  into  detail.  I  have  narrated  the 
overthrow  of  the  United  States  Bank  by  Jackson  ;  the 
encouragement  given  to  the  states  banks  to  loan  freely  ; 
the  reduction  of  the  tariff  to  a  minimum  of  twenty 


312  Personal  Memories. 

per  cent. ;  the  issuing  of  the  specie  circular,  and  the 
final  suspension  of  all  the  banks,  and  the  ruin  of 
thousands  of  merchants. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when,  in  March,  1837, 
MARTIN  VAN  BUREN  became  President  of  the  United 
States.  How  he  came  to  be  so,  and  what  he  did,  are 
important  elements  in  the  history  of  those  times.  Van 
Buren  was,  in  brief,  a  sequel  of  Jacksonism,  without 
the  power  to  direct  the  storm  which  Jackson  had 
raised.  Jackson  had  sown  to  the  wind,  and  Van 
Buren  reaped  the  whirlwind.  lie  was  a  New  York 
politician,  bred  in  the  most  corrupt  school  of  politics 
which  this  country  has  ever  known — a  school  which 
still  continues  its  corrupt  practices  in  that  state,  and 
whose  last  disciple  and  leader  is  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
Esq.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  a  man  of  respectability,  of 
decided  talents,  and  of  good  character.  Yet  his  po 
litical  career  had  neither  dignity,  respectability,  nor 
virtue — I  mean  public  virtue,  for  he  had  no  private 
vices,  and  was  deemed  an  estimable  man.  Let  us, 
then,  observe  him  from  a  public  point  of  view.  He  was 
one  of  Jackson's  chief  supporters,  and  founders  of  the 
present  Democratic  party.  In  the  conflicts  of  that  day 
there  was  a  social  as  well  as  a  political  conflict.  It 
arose  about  Mrs.  Eaton,  wife  of  Secretary  Eaton, 
Jackson's  intimate  friend,  for  reasons  unnecessary  to 
mention,  and  of  no  public  interest  at  the  present  day. 
Mrs.  Eaton  was  ostracised  by  the  leading  ladies  of 
"Washington,  among  whom  were  the  wives  of  the 
Southern  members  of  the  cabinet.  Mrs.  Calhoun, 
Mrs.  Berrien,  and  Mrs.  Branch  refused  to  call  upon 
Mrs.  Eaton.  Eaton,  of  course,  felt  injured,  and  Jack- 
sou  took  his  part.  Van  Bureu  sided  with  Jackson, 


Personal  Memories.  313 

partly,  no  doubt,  because  he  was  then  a  widower,  and 
had  no  troubles  of  that  sort.  Jackson  made  it  a  per 
sonal  matter  with  all  of  Eaton's  opponents,  and  the 
result  was  a  break  up  of  the  cabinet,  the  alienation  of 
Calhoun,  and  the  acceptance  of  Van  Buren  as  the 
leader  of  the  Jackson  (then  calling  itself  the  Demo 
cratic)  party. 

In  the  meantime,  there  was  a  little  political  episode 
which  ought  to  go  into  history.  The  reader,  no  doubt, 
remembers  when  Jackson,  in  the  administration  of 
Monroe,  marched  into  Florida,  and  captured  two  men, 
named  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  who,  for  some  rea 
son,  either  as  spies  or  traitors,  he  executed.  This  was, 
doubtless,  contrary  to  law,  and  his  conduct  was  in 
quired  into  by  congress.  The  administration,  how 
ever,  wished  to  defend  its  own  commander,  and  in 
some  way  Jackson  escaped  punishment  or  reproach. 
The  consultations  which  led  to  this  result  were  held 
by  the  cabinet,  of  which  Adams,  Crawford,  and  Cal 
houn  were  members.  In  some  way,  probably  by  false 
information  from  the  enemies  of  Adams,  Jackson  was 
firmly  impressed  with  the  idea  that  Calhoun  was  his 
friend  and  supporter  in  the  cabinet,  and  that  Adams 
and  Crawford  were  opposed  to  him.  In  the  end,  and 
about  the  time  of  the  Eaton  trouble,  it  turned  out, 
through  some  letter  from  Crawford,  that  Jackson's 
impressions  were  all  wrong — that  Adams  had  been 
his  firm  supporter,  and  Calhoun  his  opponent.  Jack 
son  became  indignant,  and  looked  upon  Calhoun  as  a 
political  intriguer  and  his  own  enemy.  I  state  this 
to  show  the  state  of  feeling  among  the  public  men  in 
Washington  at  that  time.  It  shows  how  completely 
Jackson  had  made  the  government  a  personal  matter. 


314  Personal  Memories. 

lie  put  men  out  and  in,  quarreled  with  or  supported 
them,  for  causes  measured  by  bis  own  feelings  and 
interests.  Tbe  government  was  as  completely  per 
sonal  at  that  time  as  was  the  government  of  George 
the  Third.  So  devoted  were  his  friends,  and  so 
anxious  the  great  hody  of  politicians  who  formed  the 
new  Democratic  party,  to  obtain  power  and  patron 
age,  that  he  was  upheld  in  all  his  personal  measures, 
and  his  administration  maintained.  But  his  successor, 
without  his  courage  and  daring,  fell  under  the  weight 
of  popular  indignation.  The  Eaton  affair  soon  blew 
over.  It  was  only  a  "  tempest  in  a  tea-pot."  Berrien 
and  Branch  resigned;  new  followers  of  Jackson  were 
appointed  to  their  places  ;  and  the  star  of  Van  Buren 
"became  ascendant.  Of  course,  Calhoun  and  his  friends 
were  opponents  of  Van  Buren,  but  their  efforts  to 
stem  the  tide  were  unavailing.  About  this  time,  Van 
Buren  was  appointed  minister  to  England.  When 
ihe  question  of  confirmation  came  up,  the  Whigs  and 
the  followers  of  Calhoun  held  a  majority  of  the  senate, 
and  the  appointment  of  Van  Buren  was  rejected. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  this  action  was  unwise  and 
indiscreet,  for  Van  Buren  was  entirely  fit  for  the  ap 
pointment — being  a  gentleman,  and  rich  enough  to 
perform  the  duties  with  dignity.  This  false  action, 
turning  wholly  on  personal  feelings,  led  to  conse 
quences  which,  perhaps,  would  not  otherwise  have 
occurred.  Van  Buren  was  made  president,  and  his 
party  afterward  signally  defeated.  Two  months  after 
the  inauguration  of  Van  Buren  as  president,  every 
bank  in  the  country  had  suspended,  thousands  of  mer 
chants  failed,  and  the  country  was  in  a  state  of  unex 
ampled  commercial  distress.  When  congress  assem- 


Personal  Memories.  315 


bled,  this  was  the  sole  topic  of  public  consideration. 
The  president,  of  course,  had  to  make  it  the  subject 
of  his  message.  .  He  stated  the  causes  of  this  distress 
very  fairly — that  it  was  overtrading  (which  I  have 
hitherto  stated  was  caused  by  the  reduction  of  the 
tariff  and  the  over-loaning  of  the  banks),  the  inflation 
of  the  banks,  and  the  demand  of  specie  for  the  gov 
ernment  deposits.  His  remedy  for  this  was  an  inde 
pendent  treasury.  To  understand  this  the  reader  will 
remember  that  the  government  deposits,  which  are 
always  large,  had  been  put  in  the  United  States  Bank, 
until  Jackson  destroyed  that  bank  by  his  war  upon 
it ;  and  that  then  he  directed  the  deposits  to  be  placed 
in  the  state  incorporate  banks;  and  that  at  the  same 
time  he  recommended  those  bankers  to  accommodate 
the  people  with  loans.  This  commercial  catastrophe 
occurred,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  beginning  of  Van 
Buren's  administration.  To  avoid  the  evils  dependent 
upon  the  public  deposits  being  placed  in  banks,  Van 
Buren  recommended  the  independent  treasury,  or  as 
his  opponents  called  it,  the  sub-treasury.  The  reader 
will  observe  that,  in  theory,  all  the  moneys  of  the 
United  States  are  supposed  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
United  States  Treasurer,  but,  as  I  have  said,  the}7  were 
really  deposited  in  banks.  The  independent  treasury, 
as  proposed  by  Van  Buren,  was  to  consist  in  keeping 
the  moneys  by  the  treasurer,  assistant-treasurer,  and 
certain  public  officers,  who,  for  this  purpose,  were 
provided  with  safes  and  other  conveniences  necessary 
for  keeping  money.  In  other  words,  the  independent 
treasury  meant  to  sever  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States  from  all  banks  or  other  moneyed  institutions, 
and  put  the  United  States  money  literally  in  its  own 


816  Personal  Memories. 

treasury.  This  scheme  was  at  first  violently  opposed, 
not  onl}^  by  the  Whig  party,  but  by  many  Democrats. 
The  consequence  was  that  when  first  proposed  to  con 
gress  it  was  rejected,  but  at  a  subsequent  congress  was 
passed.  In  the  meanwhile  it  became  evident  that  the 
power  of  the  Democratic  party  was  broken.  The 
votes  in  congress  on  the  sub-treasury,  and  the  local 
elections  throughout  the  country,  showed  this  con 
clusively.  The  great  State  of  New  York,  under  the 
able  and  shrewd  management  of  William  II.  Seward 
and  Thurlow  Weed,  aided  by  the  Anti-Masonic  ex 
citement,  had  been  carried  by  the  Whigs,  and  politi 
cally  revolutionized.  For  nearly  thirty  years  it  had 
been  coutroled  by  Martin  Van  Buren  and  his  able  col 
leagues,  who  were  called  the  Albany  Regency.  Se 
ward  had  become  governor,  and  the  star  of  Van  Buren 
had  set  for  ever.  The  State  of  Tennessee,  also,  which 
seemed  to  belong  to  Jackson,  had  broken  from  its 
moorings,  and  throughout  the  country  there  was  a 
state  of  excitement  and  indignation  which  augured 
the  defeat  of  the  Democratic  party.  Such  was  the 
real  state  of  the  nation  in  the  administration  of  Van 
Buren,  and  the  preparation  for  the  political  campaign 
of  1840. 

The  Democrats,  of  course,  renominated  Mr.  Van 
Buren.  The  Whigs  had  before  them  three  candidates 
for  nomination.  These  were  Mr.  Clay,  General  Har 
rison,  and  General  Scott.  Under  ordinary  circum 
stances  Mr.  Clay  would  have  been  nominated,  but  be 
fore  the  Whig  Convention  met  it  became  manifest 
that  General  Harrison  had  great  popularity.  In  the 
previous  election  of  1836  he  carried  some  states,  such 
as  Indiana,  which  Mr.  Clay  could  not  carry.  There 


Personal  Memories.  317 

was  among  many  people  the  same  fervor  and  enthu 
siasm  for  his  military  character  which  had  been  man 
ifested  for  Jackson.  Among  politicians  Mr.  Clay  was 
far  the  strongest,  for  he  was,  in  fact,  the  leader  of  the 
Whig  party,  and  supported  by  many  friends  with 
great  ardor.  General  Scott  had  also  a  good  many 
friends.  But  when  the  convention  met  the  popular 
feeling  for  General  Harrison  was  so  strong  that  lie 
was  nominated,  to  the  great  regret,  and  almost  grief, 
of  Mr.  Clay's  ardent  supporters.  It  afterward  turned 
out  that  Mr.  Clay  could  have  been  elected  as  easily  as 
General  Harrison,  for  the  country  was  in  such  condi 
tion  that  it  required  and  must  have  a  change.  Among 
the  then  Whig  party  of  the  South  were  many  states 
rights  men,  who  had  adopted,  more  or  less,  the  ideas 
of  Mr.  Calhoun.  To  conciliate  these,  and  gain  sup 
port  in  the  South,  John  .Tyler,  of  Virginia,  was  nom 
inated  as  Vice-President.  This  proved  to  be  a  great 
blunder;  perhaps  no  greater  mistake  has  occurred  in 
the  history  of  the  country.  Mr.  Tyler's  doctrines 
were  those  of  the  strict  state  rights  school,  and  were 
well  known.  Between  those  doctrines  and  those  of 
the  Whig  party  there  was  an  absolute  antagonism. 
The  Whigs  were  for  a  National  Bank,  a  strong  tariff, 
and  internal  improvements  for  the  welfare  of  the 
country.  Mr.  Tyler  was  opposed  to  all  of  these,  and 
the  fact  was  well  known  at  the  convention.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  this,  the  convention  nominated  Tyler,  in  the 
vain  hope,  as  it  afterward  proved,  of  conciliating  the 
faction  which  he  represented.  This  blunder  not  only 
defeated  the  Whig  party  several  years  after,  but  had  a 
most  mischievous  effect  upon  the  whole  country.  After 
the  nominations  were  made,  the  "  war-cry  "  of  the  cam- 


318  Personal  Memories. 

paign  became  "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too  !"  General 
Harrison  had  fought  and  won  the  victory  over  the  In 
dians  at  Tippecanoe,  on  the  W abash.  The  "  Tyler,  too," 
exactly  expressed  the  fact  that  Tyler  was  a  sort  of  af 
fix — addendum — to  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe ;  nothing 
in  himself,  but  a  good  deal  when  added  to  Harrison. 
"  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too,"  became  the  chorus  of 
every  glee  song,  and  was  shouted  through  the  hills 
and  dales  of  this  wide  land.  Among  other  incidents 
of  this  election,  was  a  great  paper  ball,  perhaps  ten 
feet  in  diameter,  on  which  was  inscribed  the  names  of 
states  which,  in  the  local  elections  of  that  year,  had 
gone  for  the  Whigs  and  Harrison.  It  was  set  going 
in  some  Eastern  city,  and  is  said  to  have  been  rolled 
through  all  the  states  of  the  Union.  At  all  events,  I 
saw  that  or  a  similar  one  in  Broadway,  Cincinnati, 
rolled  through  the  city  streets  and  on  to  the  West. 
But  the  chief  means  of  popular  excitement  were  the 
glee  clubs,  which  never  before  or  since  have  been  so 
effectually  used.  Songs  were  written  specially  for 
them  of  the  most  patriotic  and  exciting  character.  I 
recollect  the  first  one  I  heard  was  from  Chill ico the, 
led  by  a  young  man  named  Duffield,  who,  with  a  fine 
voice,  a  good  club  of  singers,  and  new  songs  and  airs, 
made  the  air  thrill  with  popular  excitement.  The 
first  song  I  heard  had  this  verse : 

"  What  has  caused  this  great  commotiori-motion-motion 
All  the  country  through  ? 
It  is  the  ball  a  rolling  on 
For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too! 
And  with  them  we  '11  beat  little  Van — Van. 
Van's  a  used  up  man." 

This  was  sung  in  the  afternoon  of  a  warm  August 


Personal  Memories.  319 


day,  and  I  never  knew  anything  of  that  sort  so  en 
rage  our  political  opponents,  for  they  felt  it  was  true. 
Harrison  being  a  pioneer  and  a  farmer  at  North 
Bend,  was  represented  to  the  people  as  living  in  a  log 
cabin — living  on  corn-meal,  pork,  and  hard  cider. 
The  political  processions  were  interlined  with  log 
cabins,  coons,  and  hard  cider,  while  the  glee  clubs  ac 
companying  them  shouted  "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler, 
too."  I  seldom  went  to  these  political  meetings ;  but 
in  September,  1840,  I  attended  the  great  convention 
at  Dayton — probably  the  greatest  held  in  this  coun 
try.  I  and  my  friend  set  out  from  Cincinnati  in  a 
buggy,  on  one  of  the  brightest  of  autumnal  days.  As 
we  ascended  Walnut  Hills,  on  or  way  to  Dayton, 
omnibusses,  wagons,  and  buggies  were  before  and  be 
hind  us,  while  bands  of  music  were  playing.  The 
convention  was  to  be  held  the  next  day,  and  at  every 
cross-road  we  met  new  companies  swelling  the  great 
throng  to  Dayton.  I  remember  that  at  the  present 
village  of  Mason,  in  Warren  county,  we  met  a  long 
procession  from  Clermont  county,  with  wagons,  and 
canvas,  and  people  on  horseback.  At  Centerville, 
Montgomery  county,  we  arrived  at  sunset,  and,  with 
many  other  people,  accepted  the  hospitalities  of  the 
village.  We  found  ourselves  comfortably  lodged  in 
the  house  of  a  friend,  and  next  morning  at  daylight 
proceeded  to  Dayton.  The  scene,  just  after  sunrise, 
entering  Dayton,  was  very  beautiful.  Our  road  was  a 
descent  from  the  east  into  the  valley  of  the  Miami, 
and  the  city  of  Dayton  and  its  surroundings  lay  below 
us.  Among  other  of  the  Whig  devices,  was  to  hang 
out  the  flag  at  their  great  conventions,  and,  as  we 
looked  down  upon  the  city  below  in  the  bright  sun- 


320  Personal  Memories. 

light,  Dayton  was  literally  covered  with  flags.  Every 
house  seemed  to  have  a  flag,  which  waved  in  the 
breeze,  while  the  bright  sun  shone  upon  it. 

It  was  a  beautiful  and  an  animated  scene.  When 
we  had  reached  the  city,  breakfasted,  and  arrived  at 
the  convention  grounds,  we  were  still  more  surprised. 
On  the  road  from  Urbana  an  immense  procession  was 
coming  in.  It  was  nearly  all  composed  of  wagons 
and  men  on  horseback.  It  was  said  the  procession 
numbered  six  thousand  people,  but  that  was  probably 
exaggerated.  In  the  midst  of  it  was  a  great  log  cabin 
on  wheels.  On  the  top  of  the  log  cabin  was  a  rac 
coon,  and  at  the  door  was  General  Charles  "W.  An 
thony,  of  Springfield,  representing  the  Western  pio 
neer.  Bands  of  music  were  playing.  And  thus 
procession  after  procession  entered  the  convention 
grounds.  The  particular  cause  of  this  great  assembly 
was  that  General  Harrison  was  himself  to  speak.  lie 
did  speak,  but  I,  and  I  suppose  thousands  of  others, 
could  not  hear  him.  While  he  was  speaking  I  and 
Mr.  Sam'l  Forrer,  who  was  a  civil  engineer,  under 
took  to  estimate  the  number  of  people  on  the  ground. 
We  were  both  competent  to  do  it,  and  did  not  mean 
to  exaggerate.  As  nearly  as  we  could  estimate,  there 
were  full  fifty  thousand  people  in  the  field  where 
General  Harrison  spoke.  When  we  returned  to  Day 
ton  we  found  there  were  thousands  of  others  in  the 
streets  who  had  not  gone  to  the  convention  grounds 
at  all.  On  the  whole',  I  think  there  were  sixty  thou 
sand  people  at  the  great  meeting  at  Dayton,  proba 
bly  the  largest  political  assembly  held  in  the  United 
States.  For  two  months  longer  the  campaign,  at 
least  in  the  West,  went  on  in  the  same  style  and  with 


Personal  Memories.  321 

the  same  excitement.  Large  processions,  log  cabins, 
hard  cider,  and  Tippecanoe  songs  seemed  to  fill  the 
country.  With  all  this  popular  excitement  for  Har 
rison,  and  the  active  means  employed,  the  Democratic 
party  stood  firm,  and  manifested  an  obstinacy  as  re 
markable  as  it  was  creditable  to  the  discipline  of  their 
organization.  Few  Democrats  really  changed  their 
political  opinions,  but  an  immense  vote  was  called 
out,  which  realty  determined  the  result. 

The  vote  at  the  presidential  election  was  nearly  a 
million  of  votes  greater  than  that  at  the  previous 
election.  This  showed  the  popular  excitement,  but 
did  not  show  any  great  change  of  parties.  For  ex 
ample,  the  State  of  Ohio,  with  all  this  effort,  gave 
only  twenty-three  thousand  majority  for  Harrison, 
who  had  received  nine  thousand  at  the  previous  elec 
tion.  The  increa-e  of  majority  was  fourteen  thou 
sand,  and  half  of  that,  seven  thousand,  wrere  all  the 
votes  actually  gained  from  the  Democrats.  At  times 
I  was  really  doubtful  of  the  result,  though  sanguine 
in  feeling.  It  is  the  custom  of  political  parties  to 
have  a  grand  rally  just  previous  to  the  election. 
These  meetings  are  generally  very  large  and  interest 
ing.  I  remember  that  two  or  three  nights  before  the 
October  election  of  1840  (for  the  October  elections  de 
termined  the  presidency),  both  parties  were  to  have  a 
grand  rally,  one — the  Democrats — at  the  court-house, 
and  the  other— Whigs — at  the  Fifth  street  market 
place.  The  Democrats  rallied  their  forces  at  the  pub 
lic  landing  at  the  river,  and  marched  from  there  to 
the  court-house.  I  was  sitting  in  my  mother's,  on 
Third  street,  near  Broadway,  when  I  heard  huzzus 
and  the  heavy  tramp  of  feet  going  up  Broadway. 


322  Personal  Memories. 

Not  remembering  the  Democratic  procession,  I  rushed 
out  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  It  was  the  Demo 
cratic  procession,  marching  by  platoons  to  the  court 
house.  The  whole  street  seemed  to  be  dark  with 
them.  Each  man  seemed  to  cany  a  club,  which  he 
struck  against  the  ground,  and  hurraed  for  Van  Buren. 
Many  were  Germans  and  many  others  Irish.  "Hurra 
for  Van  Buren!"  was  constantly  heard  in  deep  gut 
tural  voices,  which  seemed  to  be  earnest  and  deter 
mined.  I  had  never  before  seen  so  large  a  proces 
sion  moving  in  that  way,  and  felt  alarmed  for  the 
result.  Going  immediately  to  Fifth  street  market 
space  I  was  undeceived;  there  I  saw  that  large  space 
filled  with  thousands  of  people.  Four  or  five  differ 
ent  speaker's  stands  were  erected,  and  the  most  popu 
lar  orators  of  the  day  were  speaking  to  the  multitude 
in  animated  terms.  I  returned  home,  satisfied  that 
the  Whigs  would  carry  the  day.  Nevertheless,  with 
all  these  hard  efforts,  Hamilton  county  was  only  car 
ried  by  a  bare  majority.  The  day  of  the  election  pre 
sented  other  and  different  scenes..  There  had  been, 
not  only  great  excitement,  but  a  great  many  threats 
made.  The  Democrats,  as  I  have  said,  carried  clubs 
in  their  procession,  and  many  of  the  Whigs,  alarmed, 
carried  pistols.  The  prudent  men  of  the  parties  de 
termined  to  keep  the  peace,  and  took  all  proper  pre 
cautions.  The  grog-shops  were  all  closed,  the  police 
were  a41  armed  and  ready,  and  the  polls  so  prepared 
that  if  possible  there  should  be  no  trouble  or  difficulty. 
The  polls  opened  at,  I  think,  six  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing.  Long  before  that  time  people  began  to  crowd 
around  the  voting  places.  The  executive  committees 
had  taken  the  precaution  to  place  a  board  walk  from 


Personal  Memories.  323 

the  window  where  the  votes  were  received  nearly 
across  the  street,  so  that  the  voters  could  proceed  in 
order  without  collision.  On  each  side  of  this  board 
walk,  and  next  the  window,  the  challenging  commit 
tees  took  their  places,  and  challenged  all  voters  who 
seemed  to  be  doubtful.  "When  I  went  to  vote  the 
line  of  voters  extended  entirely  across  the  street,  and 
it  took  considerable  time  to  vote.  Nearly  the  entire 
vote  of  the  city  was  polled.  The  city  of  Cincinnati 
gave  fifteen  hundred  majority,  which,  in  a  city  of 
forty -six  thousand  inhabitants,  was  a  large  majority. 
The  country  townships  were  nearly  all  Democratic,  so 
that  the  county  of  Hamilton  only  gave  about  one  hun 
dred  Whig  majority.  I  have  given  these  details  only 
to  show  the  reader  a  picture  of  one  of  the  most  re 
markable  elections  ever  held  in  this  country,  and 
which  made  a  profound  impression  upon  all  those  who 
took  part  in  it.  The  general  election  terminated,  as 
history  has  recorded  it,  in  the  victory  of  General 
Harrison.  He  received  the  electoral  votes  of  all  the 
states  but  six.  This,  however,  did  not  represent  the 
true  proportion  of  parties;  for,  while  he  received 
this  great  electoral  vote,  he  received  only  one  hundred 
and  forty-seven  thousand  majority  in  two  and  a  half 
million  votes.  Maine,  Pennsylvania,  and  one  or  two 
other  states  had  only  given  him  three  or  four  hundred 
majority.  The  general  result,  therefore,  was,  that 
while  the  triumph  was  complete,  the  real  strength  of 
parties  was  not  materially  changed.  Let  us  now  turn 
to  those  minor  and  amusing  scenes  which  may  inter 
est  the  reader  more  than  the  historical  result.  Hun 
dreds  of  these  occurred,  but  a  half  dozen  will  show 
their  nature.  Among  others  was  the  celebrated  slang 


324  Personal  Memories. 

expression  of  O.  K.,  which  figured  in  every  news 
paper.  It  came  about  in  this  way :  We  received  re 
turns  of  local  elections  from  many  quarters,  and 
some  of  them  from  very  illiterate  persons.  Most  of 
them  were  in  favor  of  the  Whigs,  and  the  sender  of 
news  would  be  often  very  exultant ;  one  of  them  gave 
a  return  of  a  Whig  victory,  and  added  "  OH  Korect," 
and  immediately  the  Whig  editors  adopted  this  sign 
for  their  victory,  O.  K.,  and  so  it  went  through  all  the 
country.  Another  term  used  then,  and  for  several 
years  after,  was  "  Loco-foco  "  and  "  Loco-focoism." 
Nobody  would  know  from  these  terms  what  they 
meant,  but  it  originated  in  this  way:  The  Democratic 
party  in  the  city  of  New  York,  whose  headquarters 
was  in  Tammany  Hall,  and  of  which  the  Tammany 
Society  was  the  controlling  element,  never  was,  and  is 
not  to-day,  entirely  united;  there  was  a  faction  within 
a  faction.  The  differences  arose  from  differences  in 
social  condition.  The  working  men  could  not  then, 
and  can  not  now  be  altogether  controlled.  They  are 
always  inclined  to  think  that  the  evils  of  society  are 
owicg  to  the  rich  and  higher  classes  of  society,  and 
to  their  influence  in  the  government.  The  wealthy  and 
intelligent  part  of  Tammany  Society  were  undoubt 
edly  conservative;  but  the  working  men  were  much 
less  so,  and  inclined  to  some  new  policy  within  the 
Democratic  party  favorable  to  themselves.  About 
this  time,  or  a  little  before,  there  had  been  an  out 
break  in  the  working  man's  class  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  they  ran  an  independent  ticket  of  their 
own.  They  got  about  ten  thousand  votes  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  this  is  about  the  proportion  of 
votes  they  get  nowaday  in  the  cities.  During  the 


Personal  Memories.  325 


disturbed  state  of  the  business  of  the  country  a  great 
meeting  was  held  in  Tammany  Hall,  the  object  of 
which  I  do  not  renibember,  but  in  which  these  oppo 
site  factions  appeared  in  force  and  occasioned  a  re 
markable  scene.  One  faction,  I  do  not  remember 
which,  not  finding  matters  go  to  suit  them,  had  pre 
pared  for  this  event  by  at  once  extinguishing  the 
lights  and  leaving  the  hall  in  darkness.  The  other  fac 
tion  had  anticipated  something  of  the  kind,  and 
brought  with  them  the  lucifer,  or  as  some  called  them, 
the  loco-foco  matches.  With  these  they  immediately 
relighted  the  hall,  and  carried  out  their  proceedings. 
The  Whigs,  who  delighted  in  ridicule  and  nick-names, 
immediately  called  the  Democrats  the  "  Loco-foco 
party,"  and  this  name  was  attached  to  them  for  several 
years.  "  0.  K.  and  "Loco-foco"  figured  in  all  the 
Whig  papers  of  the  country.  The  "  Loco-focos  did  so 
and  so,"  and  Whig  victory  was  "  0.  K."  I  have,  by 
these  incidents,  given  some  idea  of  that  remarkable 
political  campaign,  in  which  log  cabins  and  hard  cider 
figured  in  processions,  and  "Loco-focos"  and  "  0.  K." 
in  the  newspapers,  and  the  whole  was  made  musical  by 
the  glee  clubs,  with  "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler,  too."  I 
may  close  this  account  with  two  or  three  squibs,  which 
appeared  after  the  election.  Among  the  types  of  vic 
tory  or  defeat  wras  the  rooster,  either  fallen  on  the 
battle-field  or  crowing  for  victory.  In  one  cut  was 
seen,  on  the  left  the  log  cabin,  and  on  the  right  a  no 
ble  rooster  cro\ving,  with  his  foot  on  his  fallen  an 
tagonist,  and  underneath  was  this  verse  : 

"  Have  you  heard  from  all  the  Union, 

Union,  Union, 
Good  news  and  true; 


326  Personal  Memories. 

Hundreds  of  thousands  is  the  tune 

For  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too, 
Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too. 
And  with  them  we  've  beat  Little  Van ! 

Van,  Van  's  a  used-up  man  1" 

Among  others  was  a  new  version  of  "  Cock  Robin," 
published  in  the  New  York  American  by  a  young 
lady: 

"  Who  killed  small  Matty  ? 
We,  says  Tippecanoe, 
I,  and  Tyler,  too, 
We  killed  small  Matty. 

"Who  saw  him  die,  oh? 
I,  says  0-h-i-o, 
With  my  big  Buckeye,  oh  I 
I  saw  him  die. 

"  Who  dug  his  grave  ? 
I,  says  sturdy  Maine, 
And  would  do  it,  too,  again, 
I  dug  his  grave  I" 

And  other  verses  of  the  same  kind.  Another  cut 
represented  a  monument  with  a  willow  tree  hanging 
over  it,  and  a  woman  weeping.  The  monument  was 
inscribed,  "  In  memory  of  Loco-focoism." 

Several  plates  represented  the  departure  of  a  steam 
boat  and  passengers  for  Salt  river.  Salt  river  was  a 
stream  in  Kentucky,  and  it  was  a  common  saying 
when  a  person  had  been  defeated  or  had  met  with  a 
misfortune,  that  he  "  was  rowed  up  Salt  river."  Sev 
eral  wood-cuts  in  the  newspapers  represented  Yan 
Buren  and  his  cabinet  as  going  up  Salt  river.  One 
of  them  was  in  the  form  of  a  newspaper  advertise 
ment.  There  was  a  cut  of  a  steamboat  and  an  an 
nouncement  that:  "The  steamboat  Yan  Buren,  only 


Personal  Memories.  3*27 


four  years  old,  commander  Amos  Kendall,  will  leave 
4th  of  March  next  for  Salt  river,  ma  Kinderhook. 
For  freight  or  passage,  apply  at  the  White  House, 
Washington  City,  or  at  the  captain's  office."  No  less. 
a  poet  than  Dr.  Percival  wrote  a  jubilee  song,  entitled 
"  Success  to  Tippecanoe."  The  last  stanza  was : 

"  Then  let  us  all  stand  by  the  honest  old  man, 
Who  has  rescued  the  country,  and  beat  little  Van. 
The  spirit  of  evil  has  gotten  its  due; 
It  is  laid  by  the  strong  arm  of  Tippecanoe. 
In  the  front  rank  our  nation  shall  now  take  its  stand; 
Peace,  order,  prosperity,  brighten  the  land. 
Then  loud  swell  the  voice  of  each  good  man  and  true, 
Success  to  the  gallant  Old  Tippecanoe." 

But  notwithstanding  all  this  excitement,  this  show 
and  parade,  and  this  popular  victory,  the  end  was  sad, 
if  not  unfortunate,  both  to  thousands  of  individuals 
and  to  the  entire  nation.  Harrison  was  inaugurated 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1841;  his  cabinet  was  an  excel 
lent  one,  and  the  country  seemed  on  the  verge  of  great 
prosperity.  As  if  to  overturn  this  human  vanity, 
Harrison  died  in  thirty  days  after  his  inauguration. 
The  nation  was  again  agitated  with  new  alarms.  The 
people  began  to  see,  though  they  did  not  then  com 
prehend,  the  disastrous  results  of  an  administration 
by  a  man  whose  principles  were  opposed  to  those  of 
the  president  elected  and  the  party  who  elected  him. 
The  thing  to  be  remedied  was  the  financial  condition 
of  the  country,  and  that  could  only  be  done  by  a  na 
tional  bank  and  a  national  currency,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  government  taking  control  of  the  currency. 
But  to  all  this  Tyler  was  opposed,  and  nothing  could 
be  done.  In  consequence  of  this  there  was  a  violent 


328  Personal  Memories. 

quarrel  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Tyler.  Clay  was  the 
leader  of  the  Whig  party,  and  the  party  followed  him. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  president  (Tyler)  was 
left  with  only  five  representatives  in  congress  to  sup 
port  him.  The  Democrats  could  not  support  him,  for 
they  had  opposed  his  election  and  had  nothing  in 
common  with  him.  The  Whigs  could  carry  no  meas 
ure  on  the  currency,  for  Tyler  was  utterly  opposed  to 
their  views.  One  thing  favorable  to  the  country  was 
done.  This  was  the  passage  of  the  tariff  act  of  1842- 
1843.  This  act,  by  encouraging  American  manufac 
tures  and  supporting  the  industries  of  the  country, 
really  did  good,  and  gradually  the  country  in  the  next 
five  or  six  years  was  reduced  to  its  normal  condition. 
I  may  here  close  this  singular  chapter  of  American 
history.  The  nomination  of  Tyler  and  the  death  of 
Harrison,  both  taught  serious  lessons.  It  taught,  first, 
that  no  man  should  be  nominated  for  vice-president 
who  was  not  entirely  fit  to  be  president,  and  who  was 
not  in  harmony  with  the  party  who  elected  him. 
And,  again,  Divine  Providence  taught,  in  the  death 
of  Harrison,  the  vanity  of  human  hopes  and  the  in 
stability  of  human  government. 


Personal  Memories.  329 


CHAPTER   XX. 

The  Newspaper  Press — Its  Origin,  Character,  and  Pur 
poses —  The  English  Press — Public  Writers — The 
"  Morning  Chronicle  " — Fox  and  Sheridan — "  Public 
Advertiser" — Juntas — The  American  Press — Fre7Ua.il) 
— Duan e — Ritchie — Robert  Walsh — ' '  Evening  Post ' ' 
—  Coleman — "National  Intelligencer" — Gales — " New 
York  Times'" — Henry  J.  Raymond — Horace  Greeley 
and  Socialism — What  should  be  the  Tone  and  Char 
acter  of  a  Newspaper  ? 

IT  will  be  seen  from  what  I  have  related  of  my  per 
sonal  memories,  that  much  of  my  life  has  been  spent 
in  writing  for  the  public.  My  first  newspaper  article 
was  published  in  1824,  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut.  In 
the  more  than  half  a  century  which  has  elapsed,  there 
has  been  no  year  in  which  I  have  not  written  for  the 
press.  In  that  time  I  became  acquainted  with  many 
newspaper  men  and  the  newspapers  in  which  they 
were  engaged.  Perhaps  for  this  reason  it  is  not  out 
of  place  to  give  my  views  of  the  history  and  charac 
ter  of  the  press  in  this  country.  It  is  now  about  two 
hundred  years  since  the  newspaper  press  became  es 
tablished  as  one  of  the  great  features  of  society.  It 
has  become  so  great  and  important  an  element  that  it 
is  quite  as  great  as  that  of  steam  and  locomotion.  In 
one  word,  the  newspaper  press  and  steam  comprehend 
all  the  great  advance  which  society  has  made  in  mod 
ern  days.  Prior  to  newspapers,  literature  was  wholly 


330  Personal  Memories. 

comprised  in  books,  and  these  books  could  only  be 
known  to  few  persons.  Now,  the  newspaper  not  only 
circulates  its  own  news  and  information,  but  circulates 
the  knowledge  of  books,  so  that  the  whole  quantity, 
as  well  as  value  of  literature,  is  much  increased. 
Again,  a  writer  for  the  daily  press  reaches  a  hundred 
readers  where  the  bookmaker,  pulpit  orator,  or  pub 
lic  speaker  can  reach  one.  The  public  writer  in  the 
newspaper,  therefore,  if  he  has  any  information, 
thought,  or  idea  that  is  valuable,  can  give  it  a  weight 
or  influence  which  no  public  speaker  or  other  writer 
is  able  to  do.  This  is  the  real  power  of  the  press.  It 
is  the  power  to  give  any  thought  or  information  a  far 
greater  range  than  any  public  writer  or  speaker  can. 

Is  there  anything  valuable  in  the  way  of  new  ideas, 
inventions,  or  discoveries,  the  newspaper  gives  them 
ubiquity  and  makes  them  the  common  property  of  the 
people.  Is  there  anything  good  in  a  book,  a  news 
paper  takes  it  up  and  gives  it  universal  circulation.  In 
one  word  the  newspaper  is  the  great  forum  in  which 
all  news,  information,  and  discoveries -are  discussed  and 
published.  It  is  the  great  school-room  in  which  more 
'is  taught  than  in  all  the  school-rooms  of  the  world. 
Such  is  the  power  of  the  press,  which  sends  its  sheets 
through  the  world,  "  thick  as  the  leaves  in  Vallam- 
brosa's  vale." 

The  history  of  the  newspaper  press  has  had  three 
periods,  each  distinct  in  character  from  the  others. 
The  first  period  comprehended  more  than  half  of  the 
whole  of  newspaper  existence.  There  was  then  no 
real  freedom  of  the  press,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the 
newspaper  was  little  more  than  a  diary  of  the  most 
ordinary  events.  The  news  given  related  chiefly  to 


Personal  Memories.  331 

foreign  affairs,  with  such  accounts  of  murders  and 
calamities  as  were  publicly  known.  Domestic  poli 
tics  were  not  discussed,  literary  criticism  was  un 
known,  and  there  were  no  pains  taken  to  produce 
news  for  the  papers.  In  one  word,  a  newspaper  re 
corded  many  things  which  the  public  wanted,  but  was 
totally  uninteresting  as  to  any  discussion  on  religion, 
politics,  or  literature.  The  first  advertisement  was  in 
serted  in  1648,  and  the  first  neAvspaper  devoted  to  ad 
vertising  and  commercial  intelligence  was  established 
in  1657.  This  period  of  the  press  continued  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years.  About  the  time  of  the 
American  revolution,  the  newspaper  assumed  a  new 
character,  the  restraints  upon  the  freedom  of  the 
press  in  Europe  and  America  were  taken  off.  The 
newspaper  then  began  to  discuss  religious,  political,  and 
literary  questions  with  a  boldness  which  has  scarcely 
been  exceeded  since.  In  1762,  appeared  "  The 
North  Briton"  edited  by  Wilkes,  in  England,  who 
played  a  conspicuous  part  in  consolidating  the 
liberty  of  the  press.  Every  reader  of  political  his 
tory  knows  how  Wilkes  was  prosecuted  in  libel  suits; 
what  celebrated  trials  took  place  ;  how  he  was  perse 
cuted ;  how  the  people  sustained  him,  and  how,  at 
last,  the  liberty  of  the  press  w^as  established.  In  1766, 
appeared  the  Englishman,  chiefly  known  as  contain 
ing  contributions  from  Edmund  Burke.  In  1767,  the 
Public  Advertiser  published  the  first  letter  of  Junius. 
Perhaps,  no  articles,  before  or  since,  in  any  newspaper, 
have  attracted  so  much  public  attention.  It  was  not 
merely  the  ability  of  the  \vriter,  but  the  peculiar  state 
of  English  politics  at  that  time,  which  gave  these  Jun 
ius  letters  importance.  Parties  had  degenerated  into 


832  Personal  Memories. 

personal  factions.  The  machinery  of  government 
was  made  personal  and  often  corrupt.  In  the  midst 
of  these  factions,  George  the  III  set  up  his  own  per 
sonal  government.  His  adherents  were  called  the 
King's  party.  He  undertook  to  rule  hy  virtue  of  his 
owrn  prerogative;  in  point  of  foot,  the  royal  preroga 
tive  was  abridged  hy  the  death  of  Charles  the  I,  and 
abolished,  substantially,  at  least,  by  the  Revolution  of 
1689.  William  the  III,  though  personally  despotic, 
paid  great  regard  to  his  ministry  and  to  parliament. 
Ann,  George  the  First,  and  George  the  Second,  made 
no  pretensions  to  personal  government.  It,  in  their 
time,  there  was  any  personal  government,  it  was  ac 
complished  more  through  Caroline,  wife  of  George 
the  Second,  than  any  other  person.  She  governed 
through  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  who  was  prime  minister. 
George  the  Third,  probably  because  he  found  parties 
degenerated  into  personal  factions,  set  up  a  King's 
party,  and  in  this  he  was  as  obstinate  and  injudicious  as 
he  afterward  was  in  the  American  Revolution.  It  was 
in  this  state  of  things  that  Junius  appeared  in  the  col 
umns  of  the  Advertiser.  If  his  own  account  be  correct, 
and  his  writings  any  indication  of  his  true  feelings,  he 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  much  real  patriotism, 
though  probably  with  personal  objects  in  view.  He, 
certainly,  in  the  case  of  General  Warrants,  and  the 
special  case  of  Wilkes,  advocated  what  we  should  now 
call  the  unquestionable  rights  of  the  people.  He  de 
fended  public  justice  and  attacked  public  corruption. 
He  used  the  weapons  of  sarcasm,  of  invective,  rhetoric, 
and  even  of  law  and  of  facts  with  unsparing  ferocity.  He 
had  mercy  on  no  party  and  no  man,  when  within  the  line 
of  his  attack.  He  attacked  the  king,  the  noble,  and 


Personal  Memories.  333 

commoner  with  a  caustic  severity  which  has  had  no 
parallel  in  the  press.  In  doing  this,  he  spared  neither 
pains  nor  labor  with  his  compositions.  He,  himself, 
states  this  in  one  of  his  letters,  and  thought  that  the 
labor  of  his  writing  was  a  great  task.  This  fact  is 
well  worth  remembering  by  one  who  would  write  for 
the  public.  The  most  effective  writers  we  have  known 
have  been  painstaking  and  laborious  in  their  early,  if 
not  in  their  later  writings.  Writing  for  the  public  is 
in  itself  an  education,  and  the  first  person  to  be  educated 
is  the  writer  himself.  It  is  only  after  years  of  habitual 
composition  that  a  writer  can  afford  to  write  with 
such  facility  as  to  make  little  or  no  correction.  This 
ease  and  address  is  acquired  only  by  habitual  experi 
ence.  It  may  be  thus  acquired,  but  is,  like  education 
itself,  the  result  of  time  and  labor.  Junius  used  both 
these  means,  and,  as  a  consequence,  his  writings  rank 
among  the  finest  compositions  in  the  English  language. 
I  've  heard  it  said,  that  Junius  was  only  remarkable 
for  invective  and  abuse.  This  is  not  true.  He  is  re 
markable  for  the  best  use  of  the  English  language,  for 
strong  sentiment,  uttered  in  strong  Anglo-Saxon.  He 
had  a  good  cause  in  asserting  the  rights  of  the  people 
against  royalty  and  corruption,  and  he  used  it  with 
great  effect.  It  is  now  one  hundred  years  since  he 
wrote  his  letters  in  the  Advertiser,  and  there  is  prob 
ably  no  writer  of  his  day  better  known  than  Junius. 
The  letters  of  Junius  were  among  the  many  con 
tributions  to  newspapers  which  mark  personal  influence 
in  the  press.  For  the  next  seventy  or  eighty  years 
newspapers  were  influential  according  to  the  personal 
character  and  ability  of  their  editors  and  contributors. 
In  that  period  many  remarkable  men  were  connected 


384  Personal  Memories. 

with  the  press  of  both  Europe  and  America,  of  whom 
I  shall  speak  again.  But  within  half  a  century  after 
the  appearance  of  the  letters  of  Junius,  there  began  to 
appear  a  class  of  papers,  best  described  by  the  literal 
term  Newspapers.  The  first  and  greatest  of  these  was 
The  London  Times,  which  appeared  under  the  title 
of  The  Universal  Register;  it  was  a  daily  paper,  and 
its  circulation  only  a  thousand  copies,  while  other 
papers  were  far  more  numerous.  Among  them  were 
The  Morning  Chronicle,  and  Morning  Post,  which 
had  great  literary  and  political  importance,  especially 
on  account  of  their  celebrated  contributors.  Mr. 
Stuart  was  editor  of  the  Morning  Post,  to  which 
Coleridge,  Southey,  Lamb,  Wordsworth,  and  Macin 
tosh  contributed.  Mr.  J.  Perry  was  editor  of  the 
Morning  Chronicle.  Fox  and  Sheridan  were  his 
personal  friends,  and  contributed  to  the  ability  and 
influence  of  the  Chronicle.  In  the  meanwhile  The 
Times,  which  was  published  by  John  Walter,  was 
steadily  gaining  ground.  Its  remarkable  success 
since  then  is  due  to  several  causes.  It  was  free  from 
party  ties.  It  was  conducted  with  great  business  care, 
and  used  steam  power  for  its  printing  press.  On  the 
morning  of  November  29,  1814,  the  readers  of  The 
Times  were  informed  that  "the  journal  of  this  day 
presents  to  the  public  the  practical  result  of  the  greatest 
improvement  connected  with  printing  since  the  dis 
covery  of  the  art  itself."  This  was  the  application  of 
steam  to  the  printing  press ;  but,  after  all,  the  greatest 
improvement,  and  the  greatest  success  of  the  Times 
was  in  the  collection  of  news.  The  Times  was,  I 
believe,  the  first  newspaper  which  employed  special 
couriers  and  private  expresses  to  get  the  news  in  ad- 


Personal  Memories.  335 

vance  of  the  mails.  In  this  they  were  successful,  and 
the  public  became  accustomed  to  looking  to  the 
Times  for  the  earliest  intelligence  of  any  important 
matter.  This  increased  its  circulation,  but  The  Times, 
and  other  newspapers,  continued  to  add  to  their 
facilities.  On  January  29,  1829,  The  Times  came  out 
with  a  double  sheet,  composed  of  eight  pages  of 
forty-eight  columns.  At  the  same  time  it  increased 
its  domestic  intelligence,  and  gave  minute  accounts  of 
trials,  crimes,  accidents,  etc.  Reporting,  as  now  under 
stood,  especially  parliamentary  proceedings,  began  at 
a  very  early  day,  but  was  so  imperfect  and  unreliable 
as  to  be  unimportant.  The  speeches  were  never  re 
ported  as  spoken,  and  could  not  as  reported  be  relied 
on  as  correct.  Even  as  late  as  Dr.  Johnson's  time,  he 
was  said  to  have  written  himself  the  speeches  in  par 
liament,  some  of  which  have  become  famous.  Every 
boy  in  college  remembers  the  attack  of  "Walpole  upon 
Pitt,  and  Pitt's  famous  reply:  "I  am  charged  with  the 
atrocious  crime  of  being  a  young  man !"  But  it  is  said 
they  were  both  written  by  Johnson.  The  business  of 
reporting  for  newspapers  has  now  arrived  at  a  perfec 
tion  which  was  not  then  dreamed  of.  The  speech  of 
the  orator  now  is  not  only  reported  accurately,  but 
literally,  word  for  word,  and  the  portrait  of  the  orator 
in  thought  and  speech  is  now  laid  before  the  public. 
This  brings  us  to  the  last  of  the  newspaper  epochs. 
In  one  word  a  newspaper  is  now  strictly  and  literally 
a  newspaper.  It  is  no  longer  a  mere  record  of  foreign 
and  commercial  intelligence.  It  is  no  longer  a  mere 
personal  representative,  dependent  on  the  ability  of  its 
writers.  Ability  of  the  highest  order  it  must  hace,  and 
it  would  soon  sink  without  it ;  but  its  great  character- 


336  Personal  Memories. 

istic  is  the  diffusion  of  universal  intelligence ;  in  this 
there  is  nothing  too  high  or  too  low  for  its  observation. 
We  hear  of  the  march  of  great  armies,  but  also  of  the 
thief  at  midnight.  "We  hear  of  the  great  orator,  but 
also  of  the  petty  street  wrangler.  We  hear  of  the 
earthquake  that  shakes  half  the  globe,  and  also  of  the 
falling  of  a  small  house.  We  hear  of  the  death  of  a 
renowned  captain,  and  also  of  the  suicide  of  a  poor 
girl.  In  one. word,  we  hear  of  both  the  great  and  the 
minute,  of  the  social  and  the  solitary,  the  good  and  the 
bad ;  in  fact,  the  eye  of  a  great  newspaper  is  now  upon 
the  whole  world.  There  is  nothing  hidden  that  is  not 
brought  to  light,  and  nothing  so  obscure  that  it  is  not 
made  lucid.  Every  art,  science,  and  talent  of  the 
modern  world  have  been  brought  to  the  aid  of  the 
newspaper.  From  the  steam  press  which  throws  off 
its  tens  of  thousands  of  sheets,  to  the  locomotive 
which  carries  its  express  messenger;  from  the  steam 
ship  which  carries  its  reporter  to  the  remotest  regions, 
to  the  telegraph  which  flashes  its  news,  all  arts  and  in 
ventions  aid  the  newspaper.  Thus  aided  by  modern 
inventions,  the  newspaper  is  making  the  human  mind 
ubiquitous.  Nations  correspond  and  discuss  affairs, 
as  individuals  did  in  times  past.  Thus  nations  are 
brought  together,  and  the  world  is  filled  with  universal 
intelligence.  This  progress  of  the  newspaper  has  been 
the  work  of  the  last  half  century,  and  is  certainly  not 
the  least  of  those  evidences  of  progress  which  char 
acterize  the  present  age.  I  shall  not  stop  now  to  de 
scribe  it  further,  but  shall  return  to  notice  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  editors  and  writers  who  marked 
what  I  have  termed  the  personal  period  of  the  news 
paper.  I  have  already  mentioned  some  of  the  great 


Personal  Memories.  337 

names  which  have  distinguished  the  English  press.  I 
will  now  proceed  to  notice  the  personclty  of  the  United 
States  press. 

Philip  Freneau  was  one  of  the  first  journalists  who 
attracted  attention  in  this  country.  He  was  more  of  a 
poet  than  a  journalist.  He  graduated  at  Princeton 
College,  New  Jersey,  and  was  the  room-mate  and  per 
sonal  friend  of  James  Madison.  He  began  his  literary 
career  by  writing  a  poetical  history  of  the  Prophet 
Jonah.  He  was  the  author  of  the  Indian  ballad,  be 
ginning  : 

"  The  sun  sets  at  night  and  the  stars  shun  the  day, 
But  glory  remains  when  their  light  fades  away. 
Begin,  ye  tormentors  !     Your  threats  are  in  vain, 
For  the  son  of  Alknomack  shall  never  complain!" 

The  first  couplet  ought  to  give  fame  to  any  writer. 
It  contains  one  of  the  most  beautiful  images  in  nature. 
This  ballad  was  attributed  to  an  English  lady,  but  it 
has  been  satisfactorily  ascertained  to  be  Frcneau's. 
Upon  the  establishment  of  the  Federal  government  at 
Philadelphia,  he  was  appointed  French  translator  in 
the  department  of  state  under  Mr.  Jefierson,  and  at 
the  same  time  became  editor  of  the  National  Gazette. 
That  paper  was  made  the  vehicle  of  bitter  attacks  on 
the  administration  of  Washington ;  but  it  was  said 
Freneau  was  not  responsible  for  them.  He  himself 
said  that  the  most  severe  of  them  were  dictated  by 
Jefferson.  That  paper  was  discontinued  in  October, 
1793,  and  two  years  after  Freneau  started  a  paper  at 
Middletown,  New  Jersey,  which  continued  but  a  short 
time.  Freneau  is  now  little  known,  but  he  was  a  true 
poet  and  an  able  writer.  Several  editions  of  his  poems 
were  published  in  his  lifetime.  Scott  and  Campbell 


338  Personal  Memories. 

borrowed  whole  lines  from  him,  and  Jeffrey  predicted 
that  his  poems  would  be  as  well  known  as  Hudibras. 
William  Duane  was  one  of  the  most  noted  editors 
in  the  United  States.  He  was  born  in  New  York ; 
learned  the  art  of  printing,  and  went  to  India  to  seek 
his  fortune.  There  he  edited  a  paper  called  the  World. 
Having  offended  the  government,  he  was  seized,  sent 
to  England,  and  his  property  confiscated.  There  he 
edited  a  paper  called  The  General  Advertiser,  and  sided 
with  a  faction  headed  by  Home  Tooke.  In  1795  he 
returned  to  America,  and  became  editor  of  the  Aurora, 
published  at  Philadelphia.  This  paper  became  the 
most  influential  organ  of  the  Democratic  party.  Jef 
ferson  attributed  his  election  to  its  influence.  At  that 
time  party  spirit  was  higher  than  it  had  ever  previously 
been  in  America.  Philadelphia  was  a  Federal  town, 
and  the  Federalists  distinguished  themselves  by  a 
black  cockade.  The  office  of  the  Aurora  was  mobbed, 
and  my  father  (then  teaching  in  Philadelphia)  was  one 
of  a  party  of  Democrats  who  defended  it.  "When  the 
seat  of  government  was  moved  from  Philadelphia  to 
Washington,  the  A  urora  declined,  but  Duane  continued 
to  edit  it  until  1822.  He  was  not  a  fine  writer,  but  a 
powerful  political  advocate.  One  of  the  most  noted 
political  editors  in  this  country  was  Thomas  Ritchie. 
He  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  edited  the  Richmond 
Enquirer  from  1804-1845.  He  was  the  leading,  and 
perhaps  most  influential,  Democratic  editor  at  that 
time.  There  were  in  these  days  two  political  cen 
ters,  Albany  and  Richmond,  Ya.  The  managers 
of  the  Democratic  party  in  those  places  were  called 
the  Albany  and  Richmond  "  Juntos."  At  Albany  the 
chief  manager  was  Martin  Yan  Buren,  and  at  Rich- 


Personal  Memories.  339 


mond,  Ritchie,  Madison,  and  others  of  the  Virginia 
clique  held  sway. 

In  the  forty  years  in  which  Mr.  Kitchie  was  editor, 
these  juntos  held  supreme  control  in  the  Democratic 
party,  and  through  that  over  the  country.  When 
Ritchie  left  the  Enquirer  to  edit  the  Union,  in  "Wash 
ington,  Polk  was  elected  president,  the  western  influ 
ence  began  to  assert  itself,  and  the  juntos  of  Albany 
and  Richmond  ceased  to  be  supreme.  In  1849  Ritchie 
retired,  after  a  long  and  successful  editorial  career. 
He  was  a  strong  writer,  a  distinguished  man,  and, 
through  the  Virginia  dynasty,  exercised  a  great  influ 
ence  on  the  politics  of  the  country. 

William  Coleman  was  for  nearly  thirty  years  a  lead 
ing  editor  in  the  Federal  party  of  New  York.  He 
was  born  and  educated  in  Massachusetts.  He  was  bred 
to  the  bar,  and  was  for  a  short  time  a  partner  with 
Aaron  Burr  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  But,  in  1801, 
Hamilton  and  other  leading  Federalists  set  up  a  daily 
paper  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  selected  Colemau, 
who  was  a  warm  Federalist,  to  conduct  it.  This  paper 
was  the  now  well-known  Evening  Post,  and,  in  the 
nearly  eighty  years  of  its  existence,  has  been  conducted 
for  most  of  that  time  by  Coleman  and  Bryant.  When 
Coleman  first  began  his  career,  party  contests  were 
very  hot,  and  Coleman  was  involved  in  several  per 
sonal  conflicts.  Nevertheless,  he  and  the  Post  main 
tained  their  ground.  The  Evening  Post  has  survived 
hundreds  of  papers  which  have  flourished  and  died 
since  it  was  established.  Soon  after  Coleman  left  it, 
Bryant  became  editor,  and  for  more  than  forty  years 
maintained  and  increased  the  reputation  of  the  paper. 
The  next  editor  I  shall  mention  was  perhaps  more  sue- 


340  Personal  Memories. 

cessful  than  any  I  have  noted.  This  was  Joseph  Gales, 
editor  of  the  National  Intelligencer.  His  father  was  an 
Englishman,  who  had  edited  a  paper  in  England; 
came  to  the  United  States,  and  edited  the  Raleigh  Reg 
ister,  of  North  Carolina.  Joseph  Gales  was  himself 
born  in  England,  bat  in  1800  came  to  Washington,  and 
began  his  career  in  the  National  Intelligencer.  This  was 
a  Republican  paper ;  for  the  reader  will  observe  that 
the  old  Democratic  party  never  called  itself  Demo 
cratic,  but  was  officially  known  as  the  Republican 
party.  The  reader  who  will  refer  to  the  old  tiles  of  the 
National  Intelligencer  will  find  thai  every  caucus  held 
by  congress  was  called  the  Republican  caucus.  In  fact, 
it  was  not  until  Van  Buren's  time,  as  we  have  learned, 
that  the  Democratic  party  called  itself  Democratic. 
The  Intelligencer  survived  fifty  years,  and  died  during 
the  war  of  the  Rebellion. 

The  only  other  editor  of  the  last  generation  I  shall 
mention  is  Robert  Walsh.  He  was,  in  every  respect, 
a  noteworthy  person  ;  he  was  born  in  Baltimore,  and 
died  in  Paris.  He  was,  daring  ins  life,  both  a  polit 
ical  and  literary  character.  He  was  a  Roman  Cath 
olic  ;  studied  law  with  the  celebrated  Robert  Goodloe 
Harper,  and  traveled  in  Europe.  Naturally  inclined 
to  literature,  he  did  little  at  the  law,  but  began  writ 
ing  for  the  "  Portfolio"  edited  monthly  b}r  Joseph 
Deunie.  From  this  time  forth,  he  was  nearly  half  a 
century  a  public  writer.  He  had,  from  his  travels  in 
France,  formed  his  own  opinions  and  opposed  the  pol 
icy  of  Napoleon,  and  published  strictures  upon  it 
which  met  with  great  public  favor  in  England.  He 
made  two  strong  but  unsuccessful  attempts  to  estab 
lish  an  American  Quarterly.  In  1819,  he  published 


Personal  Memories.  341 

"An  Appeal  from  the  Judgments  of  Great  Britain," 
respecting  the  United  States  of  America.  The  occa 
sion  of  this  was  a  continual  abuse  and  criticism  upon 
the  American  action  of  all  kinds,  by  the  press  of 
Great  Britain.  To  look  back  upon  it  now,  it  seems  a 
surprising  example  of  the  weakness  of  human  nature, 
manifested  in  the  jealousy  of  a  gre.at  nation.  I  have 
already,  perhaps,  mentioned  that  while  we  were  liv 
ing  at  Mill  creek,  a  man  called  on  my  father,  who 
gave  his  name  as  D'Arville,  but  whose  real  name  was 
Thomas  Ash,  an  Englishman.  He  cheated  Dr.  Go- 
forth  out  of  the  skeleton  of  a  mammoth,  and  pub 
lished  a  book  in  England  abusing  America.  The 
book  was  profitable,  and  from  that  time,  to  Mrs.  Trol- 
lope  and  her  successors,  abuse  of  America  continued 
to  be  popular  in  England.  Walsh  took  the  matter  up 
and  his  "Appeal"  was  a  useful  and  able  work.  One 
of  the  British  quarterlies  had  sneeringly  asked  :  "  Who 
reads  an  American  book?"  To  put  that  question  in 
contrast  with  the  present  re-publication  in  England 
of  all  noted  American  books,  is  decidedly  amusing. 
More  than  forty  years  ago,  Dr.  Dwight  published  his 
"  Theology"  a  work  which  Scotch  and  English  critics 
pronounced  the  best  modern  work  upon  that  subject 
in  the  English  language.  In  1821,  Walsh  became  ed 
itor  of  the  Philadelphia  National  Gazette,  one  of  the 
ablest  and  best  papers  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
strongly  conservative,  sustained  the  Whig  party,  and 
probably  had  more  literary  readers  than  any  paper  in 
the  country. 

After  some  fifteen  years'  existence,  the  paper  de 
clined,  and  Walsh  was  appointed  consul  to  Paris. 
There  he  \vas  the  Paris  correspondent  of  the  National 


342  Personal  Memories. 

Intelligencer  and  Journal  of  Commerce.  Of  Thurlow 
"Weed,  in  Albany,  Benjamin  Russell,  of  Boston,  Wil 
liam  L.  Stone  and  Nathaniel  Carter,  of  New  Y"ork,  it 
is  unnecessary  to  speak;  they  are  well  known.  Of 
Charles  Hammond,  I  have  fully  spoken  in  my  notice 
of  Cincinnati.  Of  Horace  Greeley  also,  I  make  no  spe 
cial  notice,  because  he  is  well  known  to  all  readers  of 
newspapers.  To  Henry  J.  Raymond  notice  is  due, 
because  he  was  one  of  my  friends  and  one  of  my  ear 
liest  newspaper  acquaintances. 

He  was  born  in  Western  New  York,  graduated  at 
the  University  of  Vermont,  and  began  the  study  of 
the  law,  but  both  his  tastes  and  his  necessities  obliged 
him  to  resort  to  something  else.  He  began  his  con 
tributions  to  the  New  Yorker  in  1840,  and  the  next 
year,  when  Greeley  established  the  Triune,  he  became 
the  assistant  editor.  In  1843,  he  entered  the  staff  of 
the  New  York  Courier,  then  edited  by  James  Watson 
Webb,  where  he  remained  the  next  seven  years.  In 
the  meantime  he  had  become  noted  as  a  reporter;  he 
had  remarkable  ability  for  work  of  this  kind,  which 
has,  since  then,  become  very  important. 

During  his  connection  with  the  Courier,  he  had  a 
controversy  with  Horace  Greeley  on  the  subject  of  so 
cialism,  as  advocated  by  Fourier.  Greeley  was  always 
eccentric,  and  in  nothing  more  than  his  attachment  to 
socialism.  He  was  always  making  schemes  to  reform 
society,  by  law  or  organization.  The  socialistic 
schemes  of  Fourier  were  attempted  in  this  country  by 
several  associations,  and  were  all  failures.  In  my  day, 
I  have  seen  this  socialistic  idea  attempted  in  several 
different  ways,  from  the  Society  of  liapp,  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  to  that  of  New  Harmony,  in  Indiana.  From 


Personal  Memories.  343 

that  of  Robert  Owen  to  Fourier  and  Shakerism.  Some 
times  they  have  succeeded  in  making  A  peaceful,  quiet 
community,  as  that  of  the  Shakers,  but  have   never 
succeeded  in  being  either  useful  or  profitable  to  the 
same  extent  as  the  same  number  of  persons  in  general 
society.     It  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  principles 
of  Christianity.     Christianity  does  not  propose  to  re^~A 
form    societ}^   by  law   or  organization,  but   to   bring   l 
forth  the  peacefuH'ruits  of  righteousness  by  reformir^g_. 
thejieart.   /Raymond   was  said  to  be  a  born    editor, 
and  he  was  one.     He  was  one  to  whom   editing  and 
managing  a  newspaper  was  as  familiar  as  the  elements 
around  him.     In  1841-1842,  when  I  was  editing  the 
Chronicle,  he  was,  for  a  short  time,  a  correspondent  of 
the  paper. 

In  1850,  having  had  a  disagreement  witli  Webb,  he 
left  the  Courier,  and,  in  1851,  founded  the  New  York 
Times.  This  was  an  important  event  in  journalism, 
for  the  New  York  Times  has  become  one  of  the  most 
important  newspapers  in  this  country.  Raymond  was 
attached  to  the  Whig  party,  and  naturally  a  radical, 
but  he  kept  the  limes  in  fact  conservative,  for  he  well 
knew  that  a  great  paper  in  New  York  city  must  de 
rive  its  chief  support  from  the  conservative  element  in 
society.  lie  knew  what  a  newspaper  should  be,  and 
gradually  brought  up  the  Times  to  his  ideal  standard. 
On  the  formation  of  the  Republican  party,  he  took  an 
active  part,  and  made  speeches  for  Fremont,  and  at  a 
subsequent  period  he  was  elected  member  of  congress, 
and  lieutenant-governor  of  New  York.  In  all  this, 
however,  he  took  less  interest  than  the  Times.  Before 
his  death,  he  ceased  to  hold  office  or  political  aspira 
tion.  He  told  me,  himself,  that  he  thought  holding 


344  Personal  Memories. 

office  was  injurious  to  his  paper.  He  died  too  young, 
not  merely  for  himself,  but  for  the  public  interest.  I 
will  mention  here  some  of  the  characteristics  of  editors 
and  newspapers.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that,  ex 
cepting  Mr.  Raymond  and  Mr.  Walsh,  who  was  con 
sul,  hardly  any  of  the  noted  editors  of  the  United 
States  have  held  office.  It  was  not  for  want  of  ample 
opportunity.  Ritchie,  Gales,  Hammond,  and  probably 
others,  refused  office.  Nearly  all  editors  of  leading 
newspapers  have  realized,  what  is  certainly  the  fact, 
that  their  position  had  more  influence  than  any  office 
could  confer.  Besides  this,  all  public  writers  acquire 
a  strong  taste  for  that  pursuit,  and  there  are  few  in 
stances  of  anyone  being  diverted  from  it. 

I  now  come  to  the  question  of  what  is  the  proper 
tone  and  character  of  a  newspaper.  I  am  asked : 
What  should  a  newspaper  be  ?  I  answer,  first  of  all,  it 
should  be  a  newspaper.  But  this  includes  many  things, 
positive  and  negative ;  and,  as  far  as  observation  and 
experience  enable  me,  I  will  give  my  views  upon  that 
subject.  First  of  all,  a  newspaper  should  be  imper 
sonal.  We  have  noticed  three  periods  of  newspaper 
existence.  The  first  was  barren  of  anything  but  com 
mercial  and  foreign  intelligence ;  the  second  was  noted 
for  the  ability  and  influence  of  its  writers ;  and  the 
third,  in  which  we  now  are,  is  that  of  the  real  news 
paper,  in  which  news  is  the  main  point,  but  in  which 
great  ability  in  all  departments  must  be  manifested  in 
the  discussion  of  all  questions — for  this  fresh  discussion 
is  in  part  news,  being  later  and  much  more  fresh  than 
any  books  or  dogmatic  learning.  When  I  say  that 
the  main  business  of  a  newspaper  is  news,  I  do  not 
forget  that  the  ablest  articles  on  all  topics  of  the  day 


Personal  Memories.  345 

do  and  ought  to  appear  in  newspapers,  but  the  editor 
ship  of  a  newspaper,  that  department  which  'assumes 
to  say  "  we,"  should  be  impersonal.  Nothing  is  more 
common,  or  generally  more  disgusting  to  the  reader, 
than  the  personal  controversies  of  John  Robinson  and 
Joe  Thompson,  as  newspaper  editors.  Contributors 
to  the  French  press  generally  sign  their  names,  but 
they  do  not  enter  into  personal  controversies.  The 
practice  of  signing  names  to  articles  by  contributors, 
is  commendable,  when  the  writer  is  known,  and  no 
special  object  in  concealment.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  no  objection  to  the  "  anonymous."  Some  most 
absurd  things  have  been  written  upon  this  subject.  It 
is  claimed  that  every  writer  should  sign  his  name  to 
his  articles.  This  is  absurd  ;  for,  it  may  be,  the  things 
written  may  be  important  and  useful  to  be  known,  and 
jet  the  writer  become  obnoxious  by  stating  them. 
The  things  he  has  said  are  true,  and  ought  to  be  stated, 
but  there  is  no  reason  why  he  should  expose  himself 
to  obloquy  by  signing  his  name.  His  name,  however, 
should  be  known  to  the  editor,  and  then  the  paper 
will  stand  between  him  and  the  public.  A  most  re 
markable  instance  of  this  was  in  the  case  of  Jnnius. 
Woodfall,  the  publisher  of  the  "Public  Advertiser"  ac 
knowledged  that  he  had  seen  Junius,  and  knew  him, 
but  his  name  was  never  disclosed,  and  probably  never 
will  be.  From  tbis  something  may  be  inferred  about 
Junius.  That  is,  that  Junius  was  a  man  of  wealth 
and  influence,  or  Woodfall  would  never  have  accepted 
his  guarranty  against  the  dangers  he  encountered. 

The  anonymous  has  its  uses,  but  whether  it  shall  be 
permitted  or  not  must  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
editor.  The  next,  and,  in  one  respect,  the  most  im- 


346  Personal  Memories. 

portant  part  of  the  paper,  is  to  employ  able  contribu 
tors,  who  can  discuss  any  particular  question  in  the 
fullest  and  most  complete  manner.  This  is  done  by 
all  the  large  city  papers,  and  must  be  done  by  all  pa 
pers  which  expect  to  attain  reputation  and  influence. 
We  have  seen  that  this  has  been  done  by  the  great 
English  papers.  Burke,  Sheridan,  Johnson,  Coleridge, 
and  many  others  of  like  rank,  were,  as  we  have  al 
ready  said,  contributors  to  London  papers.  In  the 
United  States,  John  Quincy  Adam's  contributed  to  the 
National  Intelligencer;  Hamilton  and  Madison  con 
tributed  to  other  papers.  There  can  be  no  good 
reason  why  a  newspaper  should  not  employ  the  ablest 
pens  in  literature,  politics,  or  science,  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  publishers  of  books.  They  have  a  great  ad 
vantage  in  this,  as  their  publications  can  be,  at  the 
same  time,  fresh,  instant,  and  popular.  In  one  word, 
a  newspaper  should  be  in  advance  of  all  publications, 
on  the  greatest  as  well  as  smallest  subjects  of  thought, 
discussion,  or  fact.  In  this  department,  also,  the 
newspaper  should  be  absolutely  free.  It  should  al 
low  contributors  to  discuss  all  sides  of  any  subject, 
provided  it  be  done  in  a  decent  and  temperate  manner. 
In  this  respect  most  religious  and  political  papers  have 
made  a  mistake.  They  usually  adopt  the  side  of  a 
particular  party  or  sect,  and  allow  no  other  opinions 
to  be  expressed  in  their  columns.  This  diminishes 
the  general  interest  of  a  paper,  and  certainly  its  fair 
ness.  Of  course  there  are  limits  to  free  discussion. 
Treason  should  not  be  permitted  to  be  published — • 
neither  treason  to  faith  or  to  government.  A  Christian 
paper  should  not  permit  infidel  attacks  upon  Chris 
tianity  to  appear  in  its  columns.  A  political  paper 


Personal  Memories.  347 

should  not  publish  attacks  on  the  foundation  of  a  Repub 
lican  government,  for  such  attacks  are,  in  reality,  trea 
son.  Within  these  limit?,  however,  a  great  newspaper 
has  a  wide  and  useful  range  of  discussion.  Absolute 
freedom  of  the  press  is  an  essential  element  of  a  great 
newspaper.  Now  I  come  to  a  point  on  which  there 
has  been  much  difference  of  opinion  between  readers 
of  newspapers  and  their  publishers.  This  is  relative 
to  the  duty  of  a  newspaper  to  advocate,  at  all  hazards, 
certain  great  principles  of  morals,  religion,  or  politics. 
The  individual  reader,  let  us  say — whom  we  may  sup 
pose  to  be  a  just  and  good  man — insists  that  his  pa 
per  should  advocate  certain  good  measures,  just  as 
he  sees  them.  In  this  he  mistakes  the  office  and  pur 
pose  of  a  newspaper.  Unless  a  paper  is  established 
for  the  express  purpose  of  advocating  a  particular 
cause,  that  advocacy  is  not  its  business  or  necessarily 
its  duty.  Its  office,  as  I  have  described  it,  is  to  diffuse 
intelligence,  to  sell  to  the  people  information  and  in 
telligence  on  all  subjects  which  they  need  information 
upon  or  are  interested  in.  In  doing  this  its  material 
support  depends  upon  that  sale,  and  not  upon  the  per 
sonal  integrity  of  its  editors  and  publishers.  Un 
doubtedly,  as  upright  men,  they  could  not  publish 
what  is  against  a  good  cause,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
unless  they  are  required  to  be  martyrs,  they  can  not 
sacrifice  to  any  abstract  opinions  either  their  paper  or 
their  usefulness.  On  this  subject,  however,  I  may 
boldly  claim  for  the  newspaper  press,  that  it  has  done 
and  suffered  as  much  for  a  good  cause,  as  any  other 
business  or  class  in  the  community. 

There  is  another  point— so  much  can  notbesaidfor 
newspapers.     This  is  the  publication   of  improper  or 


348  Personal  Memories. 

immoral  advertisements.     This  is  done  to  a  great  ex 
tent  by  publishing  medical  advertisements,  and  those 
of  saloons    and    public   places    of  resort,    which    are 
known  to  have  an  immoral  tendency.     The  excuse  for 
this  is  that  advertising  is  a  business,  and  a  profitable 
one  to  the  paper,   and   that   a  newspaper  is  a  public 
forum.     This  is  a  good  excuse  as  far  as  it  goes,  but 
it  goes  no  farther  than  is  allowed  to  conduct  in  the 
public  streets.     It  is  well  known  that  public  opinion, 
and  even  the  law  itself,  docs  not  permit  certain  con 
duct  in  the   streets.     Why    should    a    newspaper  be 
more  privileged?     Yet  we  often  find  in  the  columns 
of  newspapers  advertisements,  especially  medical  ad 
vertisements,  containing  words  and  ideas  which  would 
not  be   permitted   expression    on    the  public  forum. 
Happily  this  practice  is  being  abandoned,  and  I  have 
seen  several   first-class  papers    which  do  not  contain 
them.     We  may  now  see,  from   what  I  have  said,  in 
what  the  real   power  and   influence   of  a  newspaper 
consists.     Taken  in   its  collective   character,  it  is  the 
only    organ  of    general  intelligence.     Books    fail    in 
this,  because  they  are  partial  and  read  by  few.  Schools 
fail  in  this  matter,  because,  except  in  universities,  they 
never  reach  the  high  thought  and  discussion  on  im 
portant  questions,  especially  practical  and  commercial, 
which  is  found  in  the  great  newspapers  of  the  present 
time.     In   fine,   the  newspaper  diffuses  universal  in 
formation.     It  has  given  ubiquity  to  intelligence,  free 
dom  to  discussion,  power  to  thought,  by  impressing 
it  upon  the  minds  of  millions.     The  newspaper  is  to 
rnind  what  steam  is  to  matter — gives  locomotion  to 
ideas,  as  steam  does  to  persons.     Both  are  character 
istic  of  the  present  age — monuments  to  the  progress 
of  invention,  of  learning,  and  of  freedom. 

hi 


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